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BUTLER'S SYSTEM OF PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

THE LirTING CURE; 



ORIGINAL, SCIENTIFIC APPLICATION OF THE LAWS OF MOTION 



MECHANICAL ACTION 



PHYSICAL CULTURE AND THE CURE OF DISEASE. 



WITH A DISCUSSION OF 



TRUE AND FALSE METHODS OF PHYSICAL TRAINING. 



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The function of a true physician is to prevent and cure disease 
by teaching, applying, and obeying natural laws. 




/ ' BOSTON: 
D P. BUTLER, No. 19, TEMPLE PLACE. 

1868. 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by 

D. P. BUTLER, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of tlie District of Massachusetts. 



Boston : 
S:sreotyped and Printed by Geo C. Rand & Avery. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 
INTRODUCTION 5 

Defining- our Position 5 

Authorities 6 

Hopeful Signs for the Future . .6 

Physiological Errors 7 

To the Reader 8 

The Lifting Cuee . . . . 9 

The True Basis of Physical Culture .• 9 

Man a Machine . .10 

The Eelations of Mind and Body in Culture 11 

Mechanical Action superior to Medical Treatment 12 

Why other Systems have failed 13 

True and Palse Methods of Physical Culture 14 

The Proper Use of Heavy Weights 15 

Light Gymnastics un philosophical 16 

Objections to Heavy Gymnastics answered 17 

Cultivating Endurance at the Expense of Power 19 

Other Dangers of Light Gymnastics 21 

Health, not Recreation, the Object of Physical Training . . , . .23 

Danger of using Heavy Weights improperly 24 

Faults and Dangers of Shoulder-lifting . ■ . . . . . . .25 

Hand-lifting, with Proper Apparatus, the only Correct Method . . .26 

Complete Development impossible without Training 28 

Dangers of excessive Muscular Development .30 

Base-ball, Boating, and Horseback-riding 32 

Pedestrian Excursions 34 

Dangers of over-training by all Systems 35 

Proper Training a Revolution . 36 

Necessity of Gradual Development .... .... 37 

3 



4 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

Training to recognize the Periodic Development of Man 38 

The Order of Development and Cure 43 

Beauty and Energy result from Proper Training 43 

An unerring Diagnosis of Disease 44 

Necessity of Careful Training 45 

The Treatment of Chronic Diseases ' . . .46 

The Repetition of Crises 47 

The Cm-e of Organic Diseases 49 

Broken Bones, Wounds and Injuries ........ 50 

The Treatment of Acute Diseases 51 

The Treatment of Cases of Extreme Prostration and Debility . . .52 

The Treatment of Incurable Cases 53 

Diseases incurable by other Methods may be cured by this . . . .54 

Hygienic Suggestions 55 

Dangers of artificial Stimulation 57 

A Correct Diet -58 

Dietetic Experiments 61 

Other Aids in securing Health 61 

Necessity of the Proper Use of Power . 63 

Time and Seasons in Training ......... 65 

Power essential to Safety in the Development of Disease . . . .67 

Disease ; its Nature and Cure 68 

Practical Results in Application 70 

The Twofold Culture of the Brain 74 

Education as affected by Proper Training . 78 

Summary and Conclusion 79 

Explanation 81 

Manual op Exeecises ■ . . .87 

General Remarks 87 

ThePialleys 89 

Lifting 91 

The Heavy Dumb-bell 96 

The Light Dumb-bells • 98 



INTEODUCTTON. 



DEFINING OUR POSITION. 

In laying before the public a new philosophy of physical 
culture, and a new method of cure, we do not claim that we 
have comprehended the whole of truth in its relations to the 
human organism in health and disease : we have simply dis- 
covered certain fundamental laws, eternal as the universe, 
and underlying the possibility of harmonious development 
and cure, together with the method of their application. 

We have thus opened a wide field for investigation and 
study. These laws are simple, their application complete. 
The curative power is inherent in the human organism. To 
develop and increase this inherent power by a proper action 
of the organs themselves is the only curative method. In 
development and cure, each individual must "work out his 
own salvation." There is no vicarious atonement for physical 
sins, whether hereditary or otherwise, in special applications 
either of drugs or exercise. Special training, special dosing, 
the supposed immunity of the person from the effects of 
transgression of law, resulting from dependence on physi- 
cians and drugs, are ruining the world. 

5 



INTEODUCTIOK. 



AUTHORITIES. 



Therefore, in this discussion, we ignore authorities, and 
fall back upon principles as the basis of our philosophy. De- 
pending as they do only in part upon inherent organic power 
as the basis of cure, depending rather upon special applica- 
tions, either internal or external, to effect the desired results, 
though claiming to be '' the regular " profession, the methods 
of cure adopted by physicians in general have been, of neces- 
sity, purely empirical. Hence have arisen the confusion and 
disagreement which are apparent throughout the whole his- 
tory of that profession. Believing to-day what they ignored 
as false a half-century ago, discarding then what a century 
previous was at the basis of their medical practice, and what, 
at present, they adopt anew, we can learn little from medical 
history save the folly and danger of ignoring natural laws, 
and depending upon special drug medication. But we do not 
wish to be understood as finding fault with the medical pro- 
fession : we only contend against certain false ideas upon 
which the practice of drug medication has, in general, been 
based. We 'have no doubt that a large number of diseases 
and sudden and mysterious deaths are the result of want of 
equalization, and of medicinal poisons previously administered 
to give temporary relief. 

HOPEFUL SIGNS FOR THE FUTURE. 

But the tendency of the profession at the present day is 
evidently to depend less upon medicine, and more upon 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

hygiene and exercise. It is the young and inexperienced 
physicians who give the most medicine to-day. Older prac- 
titioners, who are quahfied by a larger experience, are depend- 
ing less and less upon the drug system. From this class of 
physicians we are receiving much encouragement ; and from 
those who have investigated most fully, unqualified commen- 
dation. Undoubtedly, in many instances, they would give lit- 
tle or no medicine, but for the public demand for it. Their 
position is misapprehended by the people in general. The 
public would do well to place less reliance on drugs, and pay 
more attention to the advice of their intelligent physicians. 
The office of physician will always be honorable and impor- 
tant, because of his valuable knowledge of the human system 
and of disease ; but^ as far as possible, we would educate the 
people, and make each one his own physician. 

PHYSIOLOGICAL ERRORS. 

Many of the supposed ''facts" of phj^siology and medical 
science will be found to be errors when tested by the condi- 
tions of a natural, healthful, and harmonious development. 
Much of the philosophy and practice of the medical profes- 
sion has been based upon cases of abnormal and arrested 
development ; for, as the fundamental law of co-operative and 
harmonious action has been undiscovered or disregarded, the 
race has grown up weak, diseased, undeveloped, and imper- 
fect, as a rule. It is evident that any philosophy, based upon 
this condition of arrested and inharmonious development as 



8 INTRODUCTIOISr. 

a supposed natural and healthy condition, is liable to decided 
modifications. It is only by accident that any of its elements 
are correct. Hence, in this discussion, we have avoided as 
far as possible the anatomical, physiological, and medical no- 
menclature. Our words are for the whole people. An empiri- 
cal system may rest upon the poor props of a language which 
the people cannot comprehend ; but the natural laws of health 
and development are for all mankind, and all must compre- 
hend and obey them. 

TO THE READER. 

In presenting this little work to the public, none more than 
ourselves can be aware of its deficiencies and imperfections. 
It has been prepared somewhat hastily, at intervals, while 
treating an average of nearly a hundred patients. It is issued 
at this time, and in its necessarily crude and imperfect condi- 
tion, to supply a demand made upon us in personal appli- 
cations, and through large numbers of letters from all parts 
of the country, many of them from physicians, who desire 
to know something concerning the philosophy and applica- 
tion of the new system of exercise and cure. Therefore we 
trust somewhat to the indulgence of our readers, hoping to 
present at some future time a more extended and complete 
discussion of the subject, and believing that the principles 
herein afiirmed, however crude in their statement, are worthy 
the careful consideration of intelligent and reflecting minds. 



THE LimNCr CURE. 



BUTLER'S SYSTEM OF PHYSICAL TRAINING, ADAPTED TO STRENGTH 

AND HEALTH CULTURE, AISTD APPLIED TO MEN, 

WOMEN, AND CHILDREN. 



THE TRUE BASIS OF PHYSICAL CULTURE. 

A HUMAN being is made up of organs; and the mani- 
festations of the various mental and physical powers 
depend upon and correspond with the condition of 
those organs, whether weak or strong, healthy or dis- 
eased. Hence, whatever will secure the greatest degree 
of strength, vigor, health, and perfection of the physical 
organization, should be adopted and applied by all, as 
the first and most important duty of life. 

Action is life, power, success. Inaction is failure, im- 
potence, death. Proper action is health, vigor, and the 
condition of long life. Hence, to comprehend the law 
of action is the basis of all physical, mental, and moral 
progress. The mechanical law, the law of motion or 



10 BUTLER'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

action, is the primary, fundamental law of the universe, 
man included. The laws of vitality, electricity, and 
chemical action, originate in and are subject to it. It is 
the law of creation and destruction, of life and death. 
As development, health, and longevity are the reward of 
obeying the laws of man's mechanism, so degeneracy, 
disease, and premature death, are no less the legitimate 
punishment of their violation. Hence perfect obedience 
is at once the highest duty and greatest necessity. 

MAN A MACHINE. 

Physically, a human being is a machine ; and, being 
the highest type of organization, is, of necessity, the 
most perfect machine. The perfect action of the steam- 
engine depends upon the quality, form, and adjustment 
of its several parts. These conditions being defective, 
the action of the machine is imperfect. The same prin- 
ciple applies to man. Perfection and proper adjustment 
of the parts or organs, obedience to the fundamental 
law of mechanical action, is strength and health. The 
reverse is weakness, disease, and premature death. The 
more perfect the machine, the more delicate in adjust- 
ment and complicated in structure, the more serious are 
the consequences of any violation of the laws of its 
mechanism. Taking mankind as we find them, weak- 



THE LIFTING CUKE. 11 

ness and disease is the rule,* health and strength the 
exception. The reverse is the natural order. Hence it 
is clear that the mechanical, hygienic, and psychologi- 
cal laws which govern man's existence, growth, and cul- 
ture, are violated. We require, therefore, a system of 
mental and physical discipline which will put man in 
harmony with those general laws. 

THE RELATIONS OF MIND AND BODY IN CULTUBE. 

The inter-relations of mind and body are mutual and 
complete; and any system of culture or cure which 
fails to recognize this truth must, of necessity, prove a 
failure. The fact that we have had no system by which 
we could develop and perfect the body except at the 
expense of the mind, or the mind except at the expense 
of the body, is proof positive that we have not hereto- 
fore recognized the subtle and intimate relations be- 
tween these two essential parts of man's being. The 
beginning of weakness or disease, in any case, may be 
the result of the violation of either the psychological, 
hygienic, or mechanical law ; and, if not arrested, the end 
involves the violation of all. On the other hand, obedi- 
ence to the law of proper action necessitates and in- 
cludes obedience to the psychological and hygienic 
laws, and places man in harmony with nature. 



12 BUTLER'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

MECHANICAL ACTION SUPERIOR TO MEDICAL TREATMENT. 

The philosophy of medical treatment is based upon 
the adaptation of the remedy to regulate the action^ or 
develop the latent power^ of the organs, and thus to 
resist and overcome disease. Instead of claiming any 
inherent virtue in the medicine itself, it is allowed to be 
an enemy, which, after performing its mission, must be 
expelled to prevent its causing other forms of disease. 
This is the most favorable view possible of the medical 
philosophy. Many intelligent physiologists would refuse 
to admit its title to so favorable a statement of its claims. 
Of -course, the expulsion of the enemy exhausts the al- 
ready weakened organism, or, what is worse, induces that 
often fatal crisis, the terror of patient and physician, 
termed a " relapse." 

Now, if by mechanical exercises the action of the 
organs can be regulated, and their latent power as effec- 
tively developed, the gain must be incalculable ; as, by 
this method, no enemy is left to be expelled. Besides, 
in the proper use of power, the tendency is to add to 
that already existing by an actual deposit of organic 
strength. And the effect is general as well as local ; all 
the organs co-operating, the strong and healthy sustain- 
ing and invigorating the weak and diseased. 



THE LIFTING CUKE. 13 

Moreover, it is a truth well known to physiologists, 
that inaction causes weakness, and weakness precedes 
disease ; that the liability of an organ to become dis- 
eased is in proportion to its properly regulated action 
and its greater or less strength and vigor. Hence, if 
weak organs can be strengthened, small organs devel- 
oped, and harmonious action secured to all, by this 
method, disease is expelled and power gained by the 
same process ; thus permanently curing the patient, and 
fortifying against the recurrence of disease by securing 
the organic power to resist it, thereby preventing pre- 
mature maturity and decay, and prolonging life. 

WHY OTHER SYSTEMS HAVE FAILED. 

Attempts have been made to secure these results 
through the agency of exercise, but have heretofore 
failed, or been only partially successful, owing to a lack 
of comprehension of the great underlying law of co- 
operative action. All other spstems of exercise and 
cure, as the Swedish Movement Cure, Lewis's System of 
Light Gymnastics, Calisthenics, the ordinary Gymna- 
siums, and Ling's System (of which the others are but 
inferior imitations, so far as they make any pretence 
to a scientific method), depend upon' the special action 
of the particular organ or part that is weak or diseased. 



14 ' BUTLEE'S PHYSICAL TliAlNING. 

This system, on the contrary, strengthens the weak 
organs, and expels disease by a graduated, co-operative 
exercise of the whole body. The weak organs, by the 
use of weights which tax their power largely, gain 
strength, proportionately, more rapidly than the strong 
and healthy parts, to which the same weights give only 
a moderate exercise. Moreover, since all parts of the 
body sympathize, one with another, in health or dis- 
ease, the weak parts are aided in their effort to become 
stronger by the increasing vitality of the system in 
general. Thus the strength of the whole body is 
augmented and equalized, the weak parts are built 
up, disease is expelled, and the individual becomes uni- 
formly strong, and consequently healthy. 

TRUE AND FALSE METHODS OF PHYSICAL CULTURE. 

In discussing the subject of physical training, it is 
important to ascertain what are the foundations of the 
different systems of exercise, and their agreement or 
disagreement with anatomical and physiological law. 
The tendency of all genuine improvement in physical 
training is to slow and well-regulated movements with 
heavy weights, instead of quick and violent movements 
with light weights. Our experience demonstrates that 
the former produce harmonious power and correspond- 



THE LIFTING CURE. 15 

ing vigor of health ; the latter, irregular development, 
with exhaustion, and liability to strains and ruptures. 
Contrary to the impression which has heretofore pre- 
vailed, accidents and injuries are peculiar to the use of 
light rather than heavy weights. 

THE PROPER USE OF HEAVY WEIGHTS. 

In referring to the use of heavy weights, we do not 
mean such exercises as have been practised in ordinary 
gymnasiums ; nor such as are applied to developing 
special power, as illustrated in the training of prize- 
fighters and acrobats. These result in an unbalanced 
and consequently unhealthy condition. This is demon- 
strated by the fact that they are usually short-lived. 
Nor do we mean the use of a weight which exceeds the 
power or endangers the safety of the patient under any 
circumstances. A weight of ten pounds may be very 
heavy to one person, while a weight of five hundred 
poimds is very light to another. Our object is to adapt 
the weight to the condition of the individual ; to use 
such a weight, as within safe limits, and without exhaus- 
tion, will most effectively call into action all the strength 
in order to attract and develop additional power. 



16 BCTTLEE'S PHYSICAL TRAIJSTIjSTG. 

LIGHT GYMNASTICS UNPIIILOSOPHIOAL. 

The natural order of organic development is, first, 
power ; second, endurance ; third, activity. Light gym- 
nastics reverse this order, and are alike mistaken in 
philosophy, and fatal in results. Invalids are generally 
excessively nervous and active as well as weak ; and, in 
a large proportion of cases, they are weak because of 
excessive activity. If they are organically diseased in 
addition, it should be remembered that disease attacks 
weak, not strong organs ; and that over-action does not 
strengthen, but exhausts and weakens. Experience and 
a true philosophy teach that what is gained in speed is 
lost in power, and demonstrate conclusively that a true 
and successful system of physical culture must be 
founded on a reserve of organic strength in the devel- 
opment of harmonious power and permanent health. 

Everywhere in nature, the combination of moderation 
and thoroughness is manifest. Excessive action is the 
bane of the American people. They need more sleep, 
rest, and reserved organic power, in proportion to activ- 
ity, to secure vigorous health and long life. It m^y be 
questioned whether light gymnastics would be as objec- 
tionable in its application to a nation or race of heavier 
mould, like the Swedes or Germans, who are character- 



THE LIFTING CURE. 17 

ized by a lack, rather than an excess, of activity ; and it 
is a significant fact, that the system originated with such 
a people. It is certainly not adapted to the needs of- 
the American people. 

OBJECTIONS TO HEAVY GYMNASTICS ANSWERED. 

In the proper use of heavy weights, we have a system 
of development in harmony with the natural order of 
life ; and the facts of the application of this exercise 
demonstrate that it is not only true in theory, but suc- 
cessful in results. It will yet be universally admitted 
that harmony and unity, moderation and thoroughness, 
are the essential elements in a correct system of physical 
training. 

Yet it is said, " Too much of a good thing may be 
injurious." This is undoubtedly true of physical exer- 
cise, however perfect the system. Absolute experiment 
has proved that fifteen minutes of exercise with heavy 
weights is as much as persons ordinarily can endure 
without exhaustion ; and exhaustion should never occur. 
As quick movements with light weights are more ex- 
hausting than slow movements with heavy weights, the 
time occupied with the former should be even less than 
with the latter. Light gymnastics invariably leave the 
pupil or patient with less strength at the close than at 



18 BUTLER'S PHYSICAL TEAINING. 

the commencement of the exercise ; while the reverse 
is true in the proper use of heavy weights; the exer- 
cises in botli cases being in accordance with the best 
authorities. 

The stereotyped objections of the advocates of light 
gymnastics to the use of heavy weights are both unphil- 
osophical, and contrary to experience, demonstration, and 
facts. They assert that the lifting of heavy weights 
tends to stiifen and strain, and is fatal to activity ; that 
the effect is similar to that seen in the slow and un- 
wieldy draught-horse as compared with the fleet and 
graceful carriage-horse. But who does not know that 
carriage and draught horses are not the same, but differ- 
ent varieties ; that they are horn, not trained ; and that 
no amount of training could reverse or essentially change 
their natures ? Would these objectors claim that the 
draught-horse, slow and powerful, is not as true to his 
nature, as the carriage-horse, deficient in those quali- 
ties, is to his ? Or is the draught-horse less useful in his 
place than the carriage-horse in his ? As we understand 
this matter, it is not the slowness or activity, the abso- 
lute power or agility, that maizes the perfection of 
either : it is simply the highest degree of health and 
strength possible to each, the most perfect develop- 
ment of their respective natures. 



THE LIFTING CUEE. 19 

So of man. He is constitutionally slow or active. 
Health, disease, and trainins^ are accidental and educa- 
tional. No amount of training will reverse his nature. 
Nor is it desirable ; and that system of training is best 
which will develop the highest degree of strength and 
health, as that necessarily secures the most perfect sym- 
metry and the proper degree of activity. We never 
knew a person, who had been properly trained in the 
use. of heavy weights, who was strained, stiffened, or 
wanting in activity. As teacher and practiser of the sys- 
tem, we have had ample opportunities for observation ; 
and all our experience goes to prove, that in exact pro- 
portion to permanent power, and the corresponding 
soundness and health which uniformly and necessarily 
follow, is the degree of activity, endurance, and general 
physical perfection. 

CULTIVATING ENDURANCE AT THE EXPENSE OF POWER. 

The popular idea, that endurance is to be cultivated 
rather than absolute power, is wrong, and may lead to 
the most disastrous results upon health, and length of 
life. By the constant cultivation of endurance, previous 
to a development of organic power, the race-horse is so 
trained, that he will put forth his utmost strength and 
speed to the very point of sudden death. So, too, we 



20 BUTLEE'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

often find men and women, in every department of life, 
who, wanting in power and real health, so task their 
endurance, that they follow their ordinary vocations with 
little or no diminution of labor, until their feeble meas- 
ure of strength is finally exhausted, and they die, the 
victims of the unconscious violation of Nature's order of 
development. But, power being first acquired, endur- 
ance may be cultivated in harmony with its develop- 
ment ; thus securing perfection of action, with the lar- 
gest possible measure of health, and length of life. 

The beneficent provision of Nature, that power shall 
greatly exceed endurance in healthful development, is 
very valuable as a safeguard against utter exhaustion 
and death. When our endurance fails, we are warned 
against continuing our exertion, and have still a reserve 
of power to sustain life. The more harmonious and per- 
fect this relation of power and endurance, the more quick- 
ly and sharply are we warned against over-exertion ; 
even as healthy lungs reject impure air more vigorously 
than weak and unhealthy lungs. The abnormal develop- 
ment of endurance up to the limits of power may be- 
come hereditary, thus subjecting the individual to con- 
stant danger, which can only be overcome by a system 
of culture which shall increase the proportion of his 
organic power. The cultivation of endurance at the 



THE LIFTING CURE. 21 

expense of power is one of the chief dangers of light 
gymnastics. 

OTHER DANGERS OF LIGHT GYMNASTICS. 

With slow movements, though the weights are heavy, 
one is always prepared to restrain action short of a rup- 
ture or strain ; while, in quick movements, the action is 
beyond the control of the person. He knows his liabil- 
ity only when he is injured. There is also a more thor- 
ough co-operation, a greater combination of favorable 
conditions, in the proper use of heavy weights; so that 
the strain is equally divided, not concentrated on a single 
part, on one muscle or organ. In the heaviest of heavy 
exercises, lifting, the strain being equally spread through 
all parts of the body, including all the vital organs as 
well as the muscular system, this co-operation is com- 
plete. We challenge any one to produce a single case 
of serious injury by lifting in practice according to our 
rules. We have been constantly treating persons who 
have been injured by the violent, long-continued, ex- 
hausting effects of light gymnastics, and have not failed, 
in a single instance, of radically benefiting or curing 
them. 

We commenced our investigations many years ago, 
strongly prejudiced in favor of light gymnastics, and 



22 BUTLEK'S PHYSICAL TEAHSTING. 

against the use of heavy weights ; but have been forced 
by facts and experience to abandon the light, and adopt 
the heavy weights. Formerly we considered light gym- 
nastics as harmless, if not beneficial : now we regard 
them as -dangerous, especially as practised by their popu- 
lar advocates, who evidence a total want of discrimina- 
tion in applying them in classes, alike to weak and 
strong, without any especial adaptation to individual 
diseases, weaknesses, or liabilities. 

Not less objectionable is the custom of introducing 
music, social excitement, and rivalry, all of which act as 
an injurious and unnatural stimulus, using up the small 
capital of strength possessed by invalids, through ner- 
vous excitement. In no circumstances are coolness, 
deliberation, self-possession, and complete individual 
action, more essential than in physical training. 

In discussing the merits of the two systems, we do not 
refer to the abuses of either. Because persons ignorant 
of all the principles of physical training violate the 
rules, and improperly use the apparatus, and are injured, 
we should not use it as an argument against either 
method. No system should be practised unless the 
pupil is superintended by a competent teacher. Light 
gymnastics, as taught by incompetent teachers in our 
public schools and elsewhere, or as practised from mere 



THE LIFTING CURE. 23 

book-reading, and heavy gymnastics as represented by 
the ordinary gymnasium, may properly be considered 
as unfortunate abuses, for which no scientific system is 
responsible. But the two systems, and their results as 
shown by the claims and practice of those who are com- 
petent to apply them, are legitimate material for analy- 
sis and argument. To such only do we refer. 

HEALTH, NOT RECREATION, THE OBJECT OF PHYSICAL 
TRAINING. 

As we understand it, the object of physical training 
is to develop harmonious and permanent power and 
corresponding health. But the popular style of light 
gymnastics adapts it as a social recreation instead of a 
scientific health-agency. Were it only a harmless 
amusement, we should pass it by as such ; but, as w^e 
have reason to know from abundant testimony and per- 
sonal experience that it is doing a vast amount of injury, 
we are compelled, from a sense of duty, to warn others 
against this popular delusion. All persons having 
organic diseases, especially feeble and debilitated wo- 
men and children, should avoid this dangerous and 
exhausting process. If at all admissible, it is, in excep- 
tional cases, modified from, and to follow, rather than 
precede, training in the use of heavy weights. We 



24 BUTLER'S PHYSICAL THAINING. 

would test the merits of a sjstem by its results. 
We believe in the proper use of heavy weights, be- 
cause they both strengthen and cure. We discard 
light gymnastics, because, as a rule, they do neither 
the one nor the other. 

DANGER OF USING HEAVY WEIGHTS IMPROPERLY. 

The indiscriminate use of heavy weights in exercise, 
with little regard to the anatomical and physiological 
laws of the human system, is scarcely less to be de- 
plored than the training with light weights and quick 
movements. Doubtless, in some cases, any exercise 
being better than no exercise, individuals are bene- 
fited both by light gymnastics and the ordinary gym- 
nasiums. But these are exceptional cases; and, on the 
other hand, very many are seriously and permanently 
injured by this injudicious exercise. With little or no 
instruction, or consideration of individual needs, this 
could not be otherwise, even if the general mode of 
application were correct. But ordinary modes of heavy 
as well as light gymnastics fail utterly to recognize and 
obey the fundamental law of co-operative action in ex- 
ercise. Perceiving a condition of weakness or disease 
in some part or organ of the body, a special exercise 
or excitement of that organ or part is induced, without 



THE LIFTING CUBE. 25 

reference to an equal and co-operative exercise of the 
other parts of the body ; and, when the whole body is 
exercised, it is by a combination of special actions, un- 
, equal in their application, and thus tending to produce 
an unbalanced, and consequently unhealthy, condition 
of the system. Such are the effects not only of all sys- 
tems of light gymnastics and calisthenics, but of the 
ordinary gymnasiums, the German systems, and all 
methods of lifting by yoke or shoulder-straps. 

FAULTS AND DANGERS OF SHOULDER-LIFTING. ' 

The sustaining of heavy weights by the shoulders, an 
unnatural method of lifting, renders an exact adjust- 
ment impossible, fails to bring into action in a co-opera- 
tive manner the hands and arms, produces an unbalanced 
condition of the body, and has in all cases, under the 
instruction of those most competent to apply it, limited 
development, and retarded the desired attainment of 
health. The natural method of lifting weights is by 
the hands. But Nature has at the same time wisely 
provided that the body may sustain heavier weights 
than can be lifted in this mannefr. When we endeavor 
to lift weights by a yoke resting on the shoulders, we 
are thus violating Nature's law, and endangering the 
human system in two ways: first, by the raising of 



26 BUTLEE'S PHYSICAL TKAINING. 

weights heavier than we were intended to lift, disre- 
garding the evident fact that the hands are the natural 
safeguards against over-action ; and, secondly, by bring- 
ing into excessive action, in an unnatural manner, a 
portion of the body, and failing to exercise properly 
other important parts, thus injuring the body by un- 
equal action. Moreover, all methods of lifting on the 
principle of raising one end of a scale-beam, or where 
the weight is taken abruptly from an unyielding sur- 
face, without the use of the spring, render a thorough 
co-operation impossible ; for it is evident that the 
greatest effort is at the instant of raising the weight, 
which, being taken suddenly, of necessity finds some 
parts of the body prepared to receive it, while others 
fail to act in co-operation. The weight thus suddenly 
taken is heaviest at first, requiring less exertion as it 
rises; while the contrary is the only^safe and natural 
method of action. In this manner, injurious strains 
and unnecessary soreness are induced, and the internal 
action resulting in vital development cannot be secured. 

HAND-LIFTING, WITH PROPER APPARATUS, THE ONLY 
CORRECT METHOD. 

But the lifting of properly-graduated weights by the 
hands, with an apparatus constructed on scientific prin- 



THE LIFTING CURE, 27 

ciples, is the only safe, efficient, and thoroughly co-opera- 
tive exercise. Its beneficial effects have been demon- 
strated in our. practice in hundreds of cases. The 
adjustment of the weight is so perfect, the action of 
the spring so effective, that sufficient time is given to 
secure a completely co-operative action of the whole 
body ; each part sustaining its proper share of the 
weight, and all acting in perfect harmony. In hand- 
lifting by our method, as the weight is .slowly raised 
from the spring, it is first received by the leading exter- 
nal muscles ; then, through increased co-operation, by 
the whole external muscular system; then, in order, 
by the muscular attachments of the vital organs, and 
the muscular coatings of the organs themselves : so 
that not only the external muscles, but every part of 
the system, from head to foot, is called into harmonious 
and combined action, even to the minutest muscular 
fibre of the coating of each artery and vein and every 
internal organ. This action, from its first influence on 
the leading external muscles to its final perfected influ- 
ence on the vital organs, is continually increasing in 
perfection, owing to the more complete co-operation 
secured at each succeeding stage. Thus exercise in 
accordance with this system develops power chiefly at 
the vital centres ; the co-operation being more perfect, 



28 BUTLER'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

and the action more evenly distributed and harmonious, 
there, than on the external muscles which first receive 
its effects. The brain and spinal column, as well the other 
vital organs, partake in this action. But if sufficient 
time^is not taken in the raising of the weight, which is 
impossible without the use of the spring, it is heaviest at 
the first effort, requiring less exertion as the effort is 
continued, thus reversing the natural order. The resalt 
is, that a few leading muscles are alone affected, and 
these become excessively developed while the vital cen- 
tres are neglected. By the proper method of hand-lift- 
ing, we not only obtain complete co-operation by means 
of the spring, but secure the perfected, powerful action 
of the dead weight, when the weight is raised above the 
spring; with' the additional advantage of protection 
against strain and injury, secured by co-operation. 
Thus we combine every advantage, with none of the 
disadvantages of dead weight and spring-lifting, in a 
natural and complete exercise. 

COMPLETE DEVELOPMENT IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT TRAINING. 

In a healthy organization, size and symmetry, or quan- 
tity, and balance of power, are the first and most impor- 
tant conditions to be secured by training. Then, in 
natural order, maturity and refinement follow. Com- 



THE LIFTING CUEE. 29 

plete development is impossible without training, or, 
in other words, proper mechanical action. A true 
method of physical culture is as necessary for the 
body as a correct mode of intellectual culture for the 
mind. Both are natural, provided for in the original 
constitution of man. As no man can be in the highest 
sense a natural man- without moral, social, and intellect- 
ual culture, so none can be truly natural without proper 
physical culture. We can safely suppose that none but 
the ignorant will object to scientific physical culture as 
being unnatural; while many of those forms of exercise 
which might be considered as natural by the ignorant 
are really violations of natural law, — a kind of physical 
drudgery pertaining to our unnatural and imperfect 
condition of life. 

Physical training should commence with childhood ; 
and the kind of exercise should be in harmony with the 
natural and fundamental law of youth, which is develop- 
ment, or growth. The proper use of heavy weights is the 
agency for developing size ; while slow and co-operative 
action secures the next important condition, — balance, 
or symmetry. Hence we find that those who have been 
trained in light gymnastics do not develop power as suc- 
cessfully as those who have never trained at all. Thus 
the use of light weights and ordinary modes of heavy 



30 BITTLEE'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

gymnastics produce certain conditions which limit de- 
velopment ; aSj by these methods, only the external mus- 
cles are developed, at the expense of vital power and 
symmetry. As, in all things, size, other conditions being 
equal, is the measure of power, any thing which limits 
harmonious development must necessarily be objec- 
tionable. , 

DANGERS OF EXCESSIVE MUSCULAR DEVELOPMENT. 

In all these false methods of physical culture, the ten- 
dency is to develop large external muscles, especially 
about the extremities. Many young men, totally igno- 
rant of the laws of exercise, commence training with a 
desire to secure this excessive and abnormal limb and 
muscular development. So also, by a leading method 
of light gymnastics now common, especially among our 
young ladies in their boarding-schools, aided by pedes- 
trian exercise, a great development of the lower limbs is 
produced, necessarily at the expense of vitality and true 
symmetry. If the power thus expended were applied 
to increasing the size of the contracted waist and chest, 
and the power of the vital organs, we should hear of 
fewer instances of premature sickness and death among 
the pupils and graduates of these institutions. But, if 
this abnormal development is the object of physical 



THE LIFTING CtJEE. 31 

culture, it is easily obtained. We have only to 
apply a series of long-continued limb-exercises, with 
sharp, severe action of the leading muscles, and we 
shall thus secure an excessive development in these 
directions ; but the result is inevitably injurious. By an 
abnormal development of the limbs and leading muscles, 
the vital centres are robbed of their power, and the 
doors are thrown open for the entrance and develop- 
ment of the long train of diseases to which the human 
system is liable. And, when a person thus trained is 
attacked by disease, the power needed to combat it, 
instead of being present at the vital centres, is drawn 
away to the extremities. Hence the liabilities to a fatal 
termination of the disease are greatly increased. In con- 
firmation of this, we find acrobats, prize-fighters, and all 
cases of abnormal muscular development, short-lived and 
unhealthy, as a rule. When attacked by fevers and all 
acute diseases, to which they are especially liable from 
their lack of vital power to resisl^ them, for the same 
reason they sink rapidly, and die suddenly. But a 
proper system of training will develop power primarily 
at the vital centres, securing a subordinate but harmo- 
nious muscular development. 



32 BUTLER'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. 



BASE-BALL, BOATING, AND HOBSEBACK-EIDING. 

In this connection, we may say a word respecting 
some other forms of irregular exercise common among 
our young people at the present day. Within a few 
years, the game of base-ball has become very popular 
among our young men. In so far as it leads them, for 
a time, aw^ay from sedentary and in-door occupations to 
the open fields, where they may obtain the healthful 
influences of pure air and sunlight, it is well ; but the 
exercise is in itself violent, long-continued, and ex- 
hausting in its tendencies, as is evidenced by the fre- 
quent and severe bruises and injuries — often serious in 
their nature — received by its devotees. If one-half the 
accidents and injuries due to the violence, excitement, 
and rivalry of this game, could be laid at the door of 
any system of training, such a system would justly be 
denounced by physicians and the public in general. 
As an exercise, it js partial, excessive, and long-con- 
tinued ; tending to abnormal development, and to the 
cultivation of endurance rather than absolute power. 
It is allowable, if at all, only to robust and healthy per- 
sons ; and such should engage in it only moderately. 
Its results are an unbalanced condition, of the muscular 
and vital system j and these tendencies can only be 



THE LIFTING CURE. 33 

counteracted by a proper system of training, whereby 
equilibrium may be restored, 

Boatingj while less dangerous and violent in some 
respects, still tends to excessive muscular and limb 
development at the expense of the vital centres, and 
can safely be practised only in connection with and fol- 
lowing a proper system of general training. In gen- 
eral, that method of rowing which secures the most 
thorough co-operation of all the parts will be more suc- 
cessful than any other. This is why the Harvard oars- 
men, and Kelly, the champion of England, with their 
long stroke, and co-operative action of the lower limbs, 
have been so successful, when opposed to the short, 
quick stroke in rowing. We would also suggest, that 
open-hand rowing, depending upon the individual ac- 
tion of the separate sides of the body, cannot cope with 
the co-operative and steady stroke with crossed oars. 

As systems of exercise, all these and similar forms 
are imperfect at the best, and dangerous in many re- 
spects ; but, if it is desired to attain the highest perfec- 
tion of skill and power in either, a previous course of 
training in accordance with our system will enable one 
to be far more successful than would otherwise be possi- 
ble. The power gained by proper training may be used 
in any way desired by the pupil. Without this power, 



34 BUTLEE'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

these violent and long-continued exercises cannot fail to 
produce injurious results. 

Horseback-riding, as an exercise, has become very 
popular among both ladies and gentlemen, and is fre- 
quently prescribed by physicians to certain classes of 
invalids. It is less violent than the other forms of exer- 
cise which we have mentioned ; and by bringing the 
patient into the open air, where he may obtain the 
healthful influences of sunlight and change of scene, it 
may, in many instances, be beneficial in its results. 
Like other forms of irregular exercise, it is often con- 
tinued so long as to become an exhausting instead of 
an invigorating agency. This danger should be care- 
fully guarded against. But no partial and irregular 
exercise can be as safe, or produce as favorable results, 
as the scientific, co-operative application of the law of 
mechanical action. Invalids, especially, need an exer- 
cise which shall obey every physiological law, and vio- 
late none ; otherwise we cannot expect to produce the 
best results in the treatment of disease or the develop- 
ment of power. 

PEDESTRIAN EXCURSIONS. 

Walking, as well as riding, should be practised with 
moderation. In long pedestrian excursions, the exer- 



THE LIFTING CITIIE. 35 

cise of walking becomes exhausting, tends to muscular 
development of the lower limbs^ and may, in connec- 
tion with the change in dietetic habits incident upon it, 
and the tendency to excessive eating when the exer- 
cise is no longer taken, more than counterbalance the 
beneficial effects of pure air and change of scenery, and 
prepare the way for typhoid-fevers and similar forms 
of disease. Co-operative action in walking, when the 
whole body assists in the exercise, and the arms are 
allowed to swing freely by the side, is safer and more 
beneficial than the maintenance of a stiff, unnatural, 
and constrained position. By excessive and unequal 
action in walking, especially when long continued, func- 
tional derangements are induced, equalization is dis- 
turbed, power is drawn from the vital centres, and dis- 
ease more readily takes hold of the system. In all 
cases, moderation should be maintained ; and, for exer- 
cise, only a proper system of co-operative action can 
produce the safest and most desirable results. 

DANGERS OF OVEB-TRAINING BY ALL SYSTEMS. 

In all systems and forms of exercise, one of the chief 
dangers is in over-training, — the production of exces- 
sive and long-continued action. No system, however 
perfect in other respects, can be free from this liability. 



36 BTJTLEE'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

unless proper cautions are observed by patient and 
instructor. By causing one to lift rapidly, and a great 
number of times, we could produce exhaustion and 
fatigue at every exercise, and consequently reduce the 
vitality instead of augmenting it. Hence the utmost 
care should be taken never to allow the pupil to exer- 
cise beyond the point of conscious invigoration. In 
this way, a continual gain in power will be maintained, 
which may be applied in the cure of disease, or in what- 
ever pursuit of pleasure or profit the person may desire 
to use it. But in all the ordinary forms of exercise, as 
boating, base-ball, walking, and horseback-riding, the 
tendency to over-exertion is universal. If the exercise 
usually taken in these forms were reduced one-half, 
more benefit would be derived from it. 

PROPER TRAINING A REVOLUTION. 

When a person goes into training, he goes into revo- 
lution ; and, if abnormal conditions exist, he will pass 
through the revolution of disease as well as of develop- 
ment; for he cannot add to the power of his organs 
without a tendency to use that power to expel what- 
ever disease may be lurking there. The entire disease 
may only be expelled by the utmost of power. There- 
fore the revolutions of development, and the cure of 



THE LIFTING CUEE. 37 

disease, go on hand in hand till the maximum power is 
attained. Then, in natural order, comes the reward of 
obeying the fundamental law in reference to develop- 
ment, — freedom from disease, capacity to enjoy, with 
the additional luxury of the refining of that power, or 
the ripening peculiar to healthy age. 

NECESSITY OF GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT. 

Man is a machine ; and, in training, he must be called 
into action in accordance with the principles of his 
mechanism. One of the essential rules in using ma- 
chinery safely and efficiently is to apply very little 
power at first ; the primary object being to call the parts 
into slow, harmonious, co-operative action. Having 
started the machine, and secured the general co-opera- 
tion, then a little more power is added to increase the 
speed ; then a little more, until such a degree has been 
attained as the strength of the machine will warrant. 
It is possible to run a locomotive at the rate of a mile a 
minute : but it does not pay ; it wears the road and the 
machinery to a degree which no receipts, however large, 
will justify : the ordinary rate is thirty or forty miles 
an hour on good roads. So that which is the law of 
safety and success in the application of inorganic power 
is the law of economy in a still higher degree in the 



38 BUTLER'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

development of the human system. Hence, when a 
person begins trainmg, he should use weights largely 
within his power, and increase them moderately, taxing 
his strength a little more in proportion as he advances 
from week to week; and not until he has been in train- 
ing at least three months should he presume to use all 
the power at his command. It takes fully that length 
of time to insure that complete co-operation and the 
use of all the parts which enable them to perform their 
functions properly in the use of power in co-operative 
action. This applies equally to the use of weights in 
lifting, on the pulleys, and in the dumb-bells. The 
amount of weight determines the power of action of 
the organs; but the manner of using that weight de- 
termines the kind of effect. 

TRAINING TO RECOGNIZE THE PERIODIC DEVELOPMENT OF 

MAN. 

We have said that training should commence in 
youth, — as soon as the pupil is intelligent enough to 
comprehend his instructions, and exercise w^ith proper 
regard to the laws of action. In training from youth 
to age, we should recognize Nature's intentions during 
each period of development, and modify our action so 
as to assist the natural processes of growth and change. 



THE LIFTING CURE. 39 

instead of opposing them. In infancy and early child- 
hood, Nature is developing the vital organs of the body, 
rather than the brain or muscular system : hence the 
method of training should be in harmony with this 
natural tendency. Contrary to the general understand- 
ing of the subject, light exercises and quick movements 
are not adapted to this period of life. We have seen that 
the result of such exercises is to rob the vital centres, 
and distribute the power to the muscles and extremities 
of the body ; while a proper regard to the physiological 
needs of the human system would demand the" contrary 
result. Such can only be produced by the judicious 
application of the law of mechanical action in the use 
of heavy weights. Whether in childhood or a more 
advanced period of life, the proper use of heavy 
weights tends to prevent abnormal activity : hence 
excessively active persons especially require proper 
training in accordance with this law. But it is even 
more important for children to have the proper kind of 
exercise than maturer persons. Many of the diseases 
peculiar to infancy are induced by excessive activity in 
play. Great care should be observed in guarding 
against this danger. 

It is often alleged as an argument against the neces- 
sity of gymnastic training for young children, that they, 



40 BUTLER'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

like the young of all animals, will naturally take the kind 
and amount of exercise which they require. On the 
contrary, all experience proves that young children are 
inclined to exercise too violent in its nature, and so long 
continued, that it becomes exhausting in its effects. 
But proper training will afford them sufficient exercise, 
invigorating instead of exhausting; and will allay the 
appetite and desire for that more violent exertion, 
which can only result in weakness, nervousness, and 
the early development of disease. It may even be 
questioned, whether, in the training of young animals 
for domestic labor, better results would not be attained 
by the early application of systematic culture in draw- 
ing heavy weights ; thus satisfying their desire for exer- 
cise, and preventing that excessive action which must 
result in an unbalanced condition, and detract from 
future power and usefulness. 

Neither should the power of the young child be 
directed by mental application to the increase of brain 
power. A forced action of the brain in study before the 
age of fourteen years can only result in injury, not only 
to the vital power and health of the child, but also to 
the brain itself Our American youth are too precocious 
in their brain development. The result is, that life is 
shortened, the mental powers are weakened, and future 



THE LIFTING CUEE. 41 

usefulness is fearfully impaired. Especially should our 
American girls be guarded against the dangers of a 
forced activity of the brain between the ages of seven 
and fourteen years. 

Through this brain-action, vitality is rapidly exhaust- 
ed, and the system prepared for consumption, and that 
long train of nervous disorders which are the bane of 
New England. More potent, as a cause of consumption, 
than the influences of climate and atmospheric changes, 
is the effect of this terrible drain upon vitality in the 
restraining, forced, unnatural system of culture applied 
in our public schools. 

If, on the contrary, the energies were turned into the 
natural channel of vital development, the power of the 
brain itself would be increased, and capacity to learn at 
the proper time secured ; so that, at maturity, not only 
would the person have a healthier physical organiza- 
tion, but his mind would be stored with a greater 
amount of useful knowledge. Then, in the periods of 
muscular and brain development, the sj^stem of train- 
ing should be such as will render this action still subor- 
dinate to the security and maintenance of a proper 
degree of power at the vital centres, the brain and 
spine included, thereby preventing too great a drain 
upon these parts. The brain, being the organ first 



42 BUTLEE'S PHYSICAL TEAINING. 

formed, and the last to be assaulted by disease, espe- 
cially needs the protection afforded by a system of 
culture which shall develop vital power. 

In old age, when Nature is striving to preserve the 
physical powers and to lengthen out life, we may still 
aid her by a proper system of training. By co-opera- 
tive exercise, the forces are equalized, and the utmost 
possible length of life secured. So also, in the training 
of the sexes, we should have reference to their differ- 
ence in physical constitution, and, in all cases, to their 
periodicity of development and functional changes. 

If, by reason of want of vital power, or a forced, un- 
natural system of culture, this natural order of develop- 
ment is interfered with, when the person commences 
training, and develops a greater degree of power, this 
is at once directed to the perfection of the physical 
organization. Nature will never rest contented until 
her processes are accomplished ; and when she has been 
restrained, and development has been arrested, with 
each increase of power she will surely apply it, in the 
natural order of progress, to the completion of the 
work already begun. If other processes are now going 
on, they may be arrested until this result is accom- 
plished. Thus, through a series of actions and re-ac- 
tions, a natural order of development is commenced and 
carried on until the desired end is reached. 



THE LIFTING CURE. 43 

THE ORDER OF DEVELOPMENT AND CURE. 

We have said that the first result of the exercise is 
to equahze, the second to invigorate, the third to recon- 
struct and build up the tissues of the body. In the pro- 
cess of continued training, these results are inevitable, 
and they necessarily involve the expulsion of whatever 
disease is present in the system. With equalization and 
invigoration, among the first apparent results of the exer- 
cise is the securing of a more perfect circulation through- 
out the tissues, and toward the surface, of the body. 

BEAUTY AND ENERGY RESULT FROM PROPER TRAINING. 

The skin, which had been clogged with decaying mat- 
ter, yellow with bile, or white for lack of capillary cir- 
culation, acquires the natural glow and color of health. 
Though the patient may not increase in actual weight, 
the face becomes fuller, and rounder in its outlines (the 
uniform and natural indication of vigorous vital organs), 
and acquires that beauty of form, and lively and ani- 
mated expression, which can only result from healthy 
physical, mental, and moral conditions. 

Nor is the effect upon the general tone and character 
of the mind and will less apparent. The vacillation and 
weakness peculiar to an unbalanced condition come to 



44 BUTLER'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

an end. The step is firm, and the will determined. 
Consciousness of power underlies and promotes all the 
elements of a perfect manhood and womanhood. Per- 
sons who have vainly grappled with health-destroying 
habits, or who, in consequence of the weak and ab- 
normal condition of their mental faculties, have had 
no desire to resist them, may now oppose them suc- 
cessfully. During our practice, we have had many 
patients who have given up the use of tobacco and 
intoxicating drinks, who had tried and failed in their 
previously weak and diseased condition. 

AN UJSf ERRING DIAGNOSIS OF DISEASE. 

As weakness precedes disease in every part or organ 
of the body, and as the body is practically no stronger 
than the weakest part, a thoroughly co-operative exer- 
cise will detect and point out the weak and diseased 
organs with unerring accuracy ; and with the develop- 
ment of a sufficient degree of power, varying in differ- 
ent individuals according to their natural constitution, 
strength, and susceptibility, the curative process is be- 
gun. The patient, who has at first experienced the 
grateful effects of equalization and invigoration, may 
now develop a degree of soreness and pain in the dis- 
eased organs, or their nerves, reporting in other portions 



THE LIFTING CURE. 45 

of the body. At the same time, the disease, if chronic, 
becomes acute in its symptoms ; the system is aroused 
to unusual action ; and what we term a crisis of the dis- 
ease is produced. The patient's power, developed by 
systematic culture, is now turned, in a natural and 
orderly way, to expelhng it from the system. This is 
indicated by the fact that the patient is unable to lift 
his heaviest weights with as great ease as formerly,— 
frequently unable to lift them at all. Upon the devel- 
opment of this condition, the attendant physician should 
allow the patient to use only such weights as are fully 
within his power, regulating the action and varying the 
application according to the symptoms as they are 
developed from day to day. The power of the patient 
should not be tested to the utmost until the curative 
process no longer requires it for the present ; which is 
indicated by an increase of general vigor, and a ten- 
dency to lift heavier weights. 

NECESSITY OF CAREFUL TRAINING. 

This crisis, or conflict of strength with disease, though 
seldom forcing the patient to neglect his usual voca- 
tions, should be watched carefully, and the weights 
varied according to the symptoms and needs of the 
patient. It is impossible, in any save a purely empiri- 



46 BUTLBE'S PHYSICAL TEAINING. 

cal system of cure, to give specific directions for the 
treatment of every case. As the natural constitution, 
temperament, present condition, compHcation of dis- 
eases, degree of strength, and symptoms, differ in every 
case, a different course of treatment, suitable to these 
various conditions, is in each case necessary. Hence 
only a thorough experience in the application of the 
exercises, with a good degree of knowledge of the 
human system in health and disease, will warrant a per- 
son in attempting the application of the lifting cure 
to invalids. If, in the ordinary training of persons in 
health, the right use of weights is essential to success, 
how much greater is the necessity of a large experience 
in the training of invalids ! 

In nearly all diseases, the human system is unnatu- 
rally susceptible to all external influences : hence the 
nicest possible adjustment in application and degree of 
weights, varying in every case with the symptoms, and 
according to the desired results, is of the utmost im- 
portance. 

THE TREATMENT OF CHRONIC DISEASES. 

In the treatment of chronic diseases, the expulsion 
of poisons and all morbid matters long retained in the 
system, when acute symptoms are developed, the condi- 



THE LIFTING CURE. 47 

tion of the patient varies from that in ordinary acute 
diseases, owing to the great amount of strength in- 
herent in the system, resulting from proper training. 
Hence persons may and do pass through severe crises 
without departing from their ordinary routine of busi- 
ness or pleasure. In the result, the system is purified 
from disease ; the morbid matters, sure seed of con- 
tagion, fever, and premature death, are expelled from 
the system ; the patient, instead of being made weaker, 
is made stronger, by the process, and is protected against 
relapse and subsequent assaults of disease by his greater 
degree of organic power. His vigor of mind and body 
is greatly increased ; and he enters upon his daily duties 
anew, with prospects of longer life, business-success, and 
greater usefulness in whatever avenue he may enter. 

THE REPETITION OF CRISES. 

If, as is the case in most organic diseases, a single 
process, or crisis, is not sufficient to the complete eradi- 
cation of the disease, with another addition of power a 
new crisis is developed ; and this process is repeated 
again and again until the system is thoroughly purged 
from disease. Time is an important element in the ap- 
plication of the treatment ; and an experienced instruct- 
or will not urge forward the patient to the develop- 



48 BUTLER'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

ment of a new crisis until he has had time to gain the 
necessary power to properly control the action without 
great exhaustion and inconvenience to the patient. To 
prevent this increase of disease, and establish the gen- 
eral curative tendency, is the first object; then to pa- 
tiently persevere until complete soundness and perma- 
nent health is secured. In the successive development 
of crises, the weakest part or organ of the body is first 
affected. When this becomes strengthened, and dis- 
ease so far eradicated, with the succeeding increase of 
power the next weak organ is affected and strength- 
ened in a similar manner. If the order of Nature 
allowed a sufficient development of power to attack the 
whole measure of disease in a single crisis, or effort, 
there are few persons badly diseased who would be able 
to withstand the revolution. But action according to 
law is always beneficent. Thus, by a succession of 
crises, organic revolution is gradually produced, and the 
patient is protected against the danger which would 
accompany a more violent action. 

In all cases, regular, slow, and thorough training is 
preferable to a more rapid and forced development of 
power. But in this, as in other particulars, the attend- 
ant instructor will be guided by the condition of the 
patient, the time given for treatment, and the results to 
be produced. 



THE LIFTING CURE. 49 

THE CURE OF ORGANIC DISEASES. 

In thus claiming to cure disease, we use the word 
"cure" in its ordinary acceptation. There may be differ- 
ences of opinion among physiologists as to whether real 
organic diseases can be completely cured ; but there is 
no doubt that they can be reduced to a minimum, so 
that their liabilities to encroachment upon health and 
life are scarcely more than in case of absolute cure. At 
every step of the constant increase of organic power 
developed by training, the disease is brought under 
more perfect control, with ever-increasing tendencies to 
complete eradication. Hereditary diseases remain many 
years, and often for life, in the system, in a germinal con- 
dition ; but, on the contrary, always develop and crop 
out when the person becomes sufficiently weak. Can- 
cers, tumors, and, in general, all humors of the blood, 
morbid matters accumulated in the system for want of 
organic power to resist and expel them, appear in a ma- 
lignant form only when invited by a weak and debil- 
itated condition of some part of the system. With 
sufficient power, Nature would have expelled them 
gradually through the ordinary channels. This power 
is given by training ; and their acute manifestations are 
thus prevented. It becomes an interesting question. 



50 BUTLER'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

whether this building-up of the tissues, and developing 
of organic power, by proper training, especially if ap- 
plied in the first stages of the disease, may not super- 
sede the application of surgery. We have no doubt, 
that, in many cases, such would be the result. 

BROKEN BONES, WOUNDS AND INJURIES. 

In all cases of injury to the person, when the appli- 
cation of the treatment is possible, a systematic course 
of training should be adopted. The increased power, 
and more perfect circulation, will assist the processes of 
Nature, relieve pain, and effect a cure, much more surely 
and rapidly than by ordinary methods. In accordance 
with the principles by which chronic diseases are cured, 
in cases of injuries which occurred long before the 
patient commenced training, and which were healed to 
the extent of the power then existing in the system, 
there will, with every decided increase of power devel- 
oped in training, again be manifested acute symptoms, 
and the healing process will be renewed, until, finally, 
the part affected becomes equally strong and healthy 
with other portions of the body. We have had many 
instances of this kind in our practice, where injuries 
long forgotten have been developed, and the previous 
partial cures made permanent and complete. 



THE LIFTING CUEE. 51 

THE TREATMENT OF ACUTE DISEASES. 

Still other conditions enter into the treatment of 
acute diseases by this method. In the early stages 
of all acute diseases, contrary to the common suppo- 
sition, and usually to the feelings of the patient himself, 
we find him in possession of an unusual degree of power. 
Nature has rallied all his strength in the kindly effort to 
relieve his system of disease. If the patient is untrained, 
we have, as far as possible, to neutralize the unfavorable 
tendencies of his want of power and equal action, and to 
regulate and properly control the disease, and prevent 
it, if possible, from assaulting the vital centres. This is 
accomplished, in the main, by equalization, the first effect 
of the application of this exercise. Here, even more, if 
possible, than in the treatment of chronic diseases, are 
thorough competence and experience in the attendant 
physician essential. To protect the public from the 
results of malepractice in the hands of incompetent 
persons, our apparatus is secured by patent rights, and 
is sold only under such restrictions and limitations as 
will insure its public application only by persons whom 
a course of study in the philosophy and application of 
the system have rendered competent to apply it. We 
have, as a result, a safe, efficient, and natural method of 



52 BtJTLEE,'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

cure, radically different from all other systems, in har- 
mony with the constitution of man and the laws of 
health and development. 

TREATMENT OF CASES OF EXTREME PROSTRATION AND 
DEBILITY. 

While the proper application of this treatment, in 
health, is the most perfect safeguard against weakness 
and disease, and while, whenever its application is possi- 
ble, it is the most complete and potent agency for the 
cure of acute diseases, there may be and are sometimes 
instances where the patient is unable to maintain the 
proper position in lifting weights. In such cases as 
these, the passive movements of the Swedish movement- 
cure may be of great value. Proper action is essential 
to the recovery of power and health ; and if, by passive 
movements, the system can be aroused to action until 
sufficient power is gained to enable the patient to avail 
himself of our more thorough and co-operative treat- 
ment, the movement-cure, with the application of water 
and other hygienic agencies, becomes an important ele- 
ment in the treatment of these and similar cases. 

Ling; and his followers are entitled to much credit for 
turning the attention of the public and the medical pro- 
fession to the application of exercise to the cure of dis- 



THE LIFTING CUEE. 53 

ease, and for making the first effort toward a scientific 
application of the law of mechanical action. While his 
system, in general, cannot compete successfully with a 
more co-operative exercise with heavy weights, it is 
nevertheless valuable in the treatment of acute diseases 
where the other cannot be at once applied. But, at the 
earliest opportunity, our method of treatment should be 
adopted. We have even allowed the patient to lift, on 
weights adapted to his condition, when he required 
to be supported in position by his attendant. 

In these cases, also, hydropathic treatment is often 
effective. Priessnitz and his followers have done much 
in turning attention to the natural system of cure, and 
away from the errors of drug medication. Its influence 
has been so potent, that even allopathic and homoeo- 
pathic physicians have adopted it, to a great extent, in 
their practice. The chief need has been a greater 
degree of organic power, which is furnished by our 
method, and becomes a valuable aid to all systems 
of remedial treatment. 

THE TREATMENT OF INCURABLE CASES. 

We do not claim to perform impossibilities. There 
are, of course, cases which are incurable by any system. 
Yet, even in such cases, the value of this exercise, prop- 



54 BXJTLEE'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

erly applied, can hardlj be over-estimated. In some 
cases of consumption, and other diseases, where the 
patient is beyond hope of cure, the power of the body 
becomes equalized j pain is relieved; hemorrhage, if it 
occur, made less frequent, or prevented entirely ; and 
thus life is prolonged to the greatest possible length : 
and when, finally, the patient must die, he sinks fre- 
quently into a painless, peaceful slumber, and death is 
rendered easy and natural. This is in reality the 
development of a premature condition of maturity, 
rendered necessary by their debilitated and diseased 
condition consequent upon previous violations of law. 
By a return to obedience. Nature forgives the sin; but 
no power can remit the punishment. In every case of 
this kind which we have had under our treatment, the 
result has been unifori^ly of this favorable nature. 
The patients have lived much longer than intelligent 
physicians have deemed possible, and the last moments 
have been calm, and free from pain. 

DISEASES INCURABLE BY OTHER METHODS MAY BE CURED 

BY THIS. 

It does not necessarily follow, because patients have 
been pronounced incurable under other treatment, that 
they may not obtain relief, or even permanent cure, by 



THE LIFTING CURE. 55 

a proper mode of physical training. We have had many 
cases of this kind, where our treatment has proved suc- 
cessful when the most skilful medical practitioners had 
failed to effect a cure. We claim, that in all curable 
cases, including many which are incurable by other 
methods of treatment, by the proper application of the 
fundamental law of mechanical action, and obedience 
to all other hygienic and natural remedial agencies, we 
are enabled to lead the patient to a more perfect con- 
formity with Nature's laws of development and cure ; 
which is the only method by which disease can be radi- 
cally overcome, and a healthy condition securely estab- 
lished. In other words, our system is based upon the 
truth, that health depends upon the power and proper 
action of all the organs of the body, and the most per- 
fect obedience to all the laws of God ; that human art 
can devise no other way to secure it ; that no other road 
leads to it from a condition of disease. To discover and 
obey these laws is the only method of cure. 

HYGIENIC SUGGESTION'S. ■ 

While the results of proper training as taught by the 
instructor, and proper application of the power thus 
gained by the pupil, cannot be otherwise than favor- 
able in the highest possible degree, there are modifica- 



56 BUTLER'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

tions of the effect of this culture on patient and pupil 
which demand attention. He who obeys the fundamen- 
tal law of mechanical action does well ; but he does bet- 
ter who endeavors to comprehend all of Nature's laws 
affecting health, and to obey them. 

To afford proper nutriment in building up the tissues 
of the body ; to breathe pure air by day and at night ; to 
wear clothing properly made and adjusted to the body; 
to keep the pores of the skin open, and free the body 
from impurities by a correct system of bathing ; and to 
allow the entire body to experience the vitalizing influ- 
ences of contact with sunlight anS air, unimpeded by 
external covering, — all these observances are of great 
importance in restoring health from a diseased condi- 
tion, and in preventing the approaches of disease. In 
spite of the violation of these laws, we may often 
accomplish much ; but with obedience to them, and to 
the law of proper action, a cure is rendered certain in 
all curable cases, and progress is in all instances more 
rapid. In many cases of severe invalidism, failure to 
obey these laws may turn the scale against health, and 
in favor of disease. 



THE LIFTING CURE. 57 

DANGERS OF ARTIFICIAL STIMULATION: 

Resorting to artificial means to prompt an over-tasked 
and exhausted body and brain to perform the customary 
task, or increased labor to meet some emergency, is a 
common but most dangerous and frequently fatal mis- 
take. Physicians too often fall into this error, advising 
the patient who is deficient in vital and nervous power, 
and comjolains of weakness, loss of appetite and courage, 
to eat heartily and often, to partake of highly concen- 
trated food, — meat, wine, whiskey, and the like, — when 
nothing is more certain to increase his difficulties as 
the ultimate, permanent result. Excessive eating always 
breaks down the tissues of the body, and renders a cure 
difficult, if not impossible. Many physicians, as well as 
their patients, have yet to comprehend the law thus 
violated, and the difference between a temporary relief 
and functional stimulation, and an actual increase of 
organic power and permanent health which naturally 
flows from it. Invalids, and those who are beginning ' 
to manifest the premonitory symptoms of invalidism, — 
vital and nervous exhaustion, — should pursue precisely 
the opposite course. They need rest, not labor, for both 
mind and body. They should eat less and work less, 
change both diet and employment, secure equalization 



58 BUTLER'S PHYSICAL TEAINIISTG. 

by proper invigorating exercise, and recuperation by 
change of scene and absolute rest ; thus increasing the 
life-power and health on the basis of strengthened and 
purified organs and equalized action. 

It has usually been supposed that the eating of con- 
siderable meat, and the use of stimulants to a greater or 
less degree, is essential to the development of a high 
degree of power. There may . be a difference in the 
requirements of different individuals respecting the 
amount of meat, vegetables, and other kinds of food, 
to be eaten by each ; but our experience leads us to 
the conclusion, that all food and drinks of a merely 
stimulating nature should be avoided, as spices, condi- 
ments, tea, coffee, and all intoxicating and fermented 
liquors. Pastry, condiments, confectionery, tobacco, and 
drugs cause a large percentage of sickness and prema- 
ture deaths. 

A CORRECT DIET. 

That which is eaten should in all cases be nutritious. 
Vegetables should rarely be eaten. Meat, when eaten, 
should be fresh, and usually taken in moderate quanti- 
ties, and not too often. The flesh of the hog, and all fat 
meats, should be avoided; also pastry, bread raised by 
yeast or soda, and all articles made of fine flour. Bread 
made of wheat-meal, containing every element of the 



THE LIFTING CUKE. 59 

natural grain, without yeast or salt j ripe fruits; fresh beef 
and mutton ; wild game and venison ; with bread or pud- 
dings, plainly made, of rye, oat, or Indian meal, — are to 
be preferred. Tobacco and narcotics of all kinds should 
be avoided. The meals should be eaten at regular hours, 
and sufficient time should be occupied in eating to secure 
thorough mastication and salivation of the food. A 
stimulating diet favors a forced and unnatural develop- 
ment, and must be followed by a corresponding re-action. 
Simplicity in food, both in the manner of its prepara- 
tion and in partaking of very few articles at the same 
meal, is important as a rule of diet. Invalids may prop- 
erly be confined to a single article at a meal. A great 
variety of food promotes over-eating or gluttony, — a 
universal fault of the American people. In this way 
the digestive organs are over-loaded, and are unable to 
perform their work properly. Hence the system re- 
ceives less nutrition than would be derived from a 
smaller quantity of food. The question of diet is still 
open, and we cannot as yet affirm an absolute rule by 
which all may be governed. The tendency among those 
whose investigations have been most thorough is evi- 
dently toward using less meat and stimulants. It is the 
object of all to ascertain how much and what kinds of 
food will give the most nourishment to the system. 
This is the only point of dispute. 



60 BUTLEE'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

A proper regulation of the diet is in itself always 
important in the cure of disease and the preservation of 
health ; but it is far better for a proper diet, and the ac- 
quisition of power by a proper system of training, to go 
hand in hand. Indeed, with proper training, which tends 
to secure regulation not only of vital and functional ac- 
tion, but of all the habits of body and mind, a regulation 
of diet is easy where it has before been difficult. Act- 
ing as it does most effectively in aiding the processes of 
digestion, dyspeptic tendencies are removed, and all 
kinds of food are more easily digested and assimilated. 
It is well known that general conditions of strength and 
health, weakness and disease, modify the effects of food 
on the system. This fact, and the differences of people 
in their constitutions, appetites, habits, education, and the 
circumstances of climate, locality, and employment, are 
sufficient to account for the differences of opinion 
among physiologists and health-reformers on the sub- 
ject of diet. A correct and infallible rule can hardly 
be based on abnormal and diseased conditions ; but it is 
evident that the appetite will be more natural and trust- 
worthy as a guide when the system becomes healthy, 
and organic action is properly regulated by a correct 
system of physical culture. This, then, is the first thing 
to be secured. 



THE LIFTING CUKE. 61 

DIETETIC EXPERIMENTS. 

While we would nourish the body properly, that its 
growth may be natural and healthy, we object to fos- 
tering that kind of mental dyspepsia which renders man 
the slave of his stomach in the application of a rigid 
diet. Dietetic experiments on a weak and diseased 
body are always dangerous, and can never lead to trust- 
worthy conclusions. Power is the first condition of 
health. To gain power, then, should be the primary 
endeavor of every one in search of that blessing. 
Rather than weaken the body by systematic starving, 
we would say, " Eat any thing, so that your organic 
power is increased." First power, then purity, is Na- 
ture's order of development; and he who strives to 
reverse this order will weaken and die before he ac- 
quires either purity or power. But fasting is not starv- 
ing ; and fasting is occasionally useful in promoting 
purity, and giving rest to the digestive organs. Fast- 
ing, instead of sttifiing, is the proper way to improve 
the appetite. 

OTHER AIDS IN SECURING HEALTH. 

Sun, air, and water baths properly applied, are very 
valuable agencies in a natural method of cure ; but too 



62 BUTLBE'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

frequent bathing becomes a weakening process, instead 
of a producer of health and strength. Especially should 
we guard against too great frequency in applying Turk- 
ish baths, and baths of very warm or very cold water. 
Although they are valuable agents in promoting purity 
of the body, they should be applied judiciously, and 
not often enough to produce too great relaxation 
and weakness. In this way we have known sickness, 
and even death, to be induced. It is of the utmost 
importance to every person, particularly to every inva- 
lid, to secure a proper amount of sleep. The American 
people, from their excessive mental and nervous activity, 
usually sleep too little ; but by equalization, through 
proper training, this tendency may be corrected, and 
rest made natural and easy. Children and old peo- 
ple need more sleep than pBrsons in the prime of life ; 
but nearly all need more than they obtain. There are, 
of course, exceptions to this general ride. We are not 
in favor of dozing one's life away from want of energy ; 
but a proper degree of activity demands also a proper 
amount of sleep and rest. The natural time for sleep is, 
of course, night, instead of day. At night, the light, 
heat, and electrical influence of the sun, tending to pro- 
mote mental and physical activity, are withdrawn ; and 
all the conditions are favorable to repose. We cannot 



THE LIFTING CURE. 63 

violate the order of Nature with impunity ; and if we 
value health, and length of life, we must secure sufficient 
sleep at the proper hours. 

Great aid may often be given to the patient by rub- 
bing his body with the hands of a healthy person in 
sympathy with him; thereby a healthy magnetic in- 
jfluence is imparted, aiding to equalize and soothe. 

The wearing of clothing so made that the natural 
processes of respiration, digestion, and circulation, may 
not be impeded, is very important, particularly to chil- 
dren and women. Our society, especially the female 
portion, requires a radical reform in the matter of dress ; 
and our children cannot be protected from disease and 
death while their dress leaves the extremities unpro- 
tected from atmospheric changes and severity, even in 
the coldest weather. Until we comprehend and obey 
these laws, we cannot expect to become a healthy and 
vigorous people. 

NECESSITY OF THE PROPER USE OF POWER. 

The perfect work of the physician and instructor is 
not the only element essential to a cure. Through a 
perfect system of training, development of power may 
result ; but unless this power is directed in its proper 
channel, unless it is applied to the curative process and 



64 BUTLER'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

becomes permanent, it is possible to shorten life instead 
of promoting longevity. Health and strength should 
be the primary object ; pecuniary gains secondary, and 
as a result of sound organic condition. But if an ambi- 
tious invalid uses immediately, to its full extent, in the 
labors of business and the pursuit of wealth, the power 
developed by training, thus turning it from the natural 
channel of cure, nothing is surer than that dangerous 
conditions will be produced. 

The use of the strength he originally possessed has 
been necessary to the acquisition of greater power. To 
this he has applied it ; and, if this greater power thus 
gained is at once wholly absorbed in business or the 
pursuit of wealth, it requires only a simple mathemati- 
cal calculation to prove that the patient would soon 
become bankrupt in strength, and his condition would 
be more dangerous than before. 

Physicians and instructors should note well that 
point, and carefully guard and instruct their pupils in 
the philosophy of cure. But nothing is surer than that 
this power, properly applied, will eradicate disease, build 
up the tissues of the body, and, by securing conditions 
of organic soundness and vitality, life will be prolonged 
beyond the present probable duration. 

The curative power is not to be found in drugs or 



THE LIFTING CUEE. 63 

other outward appliances. It is inherent in the human 
organism. It is only by developing and increasing this 
organic power by a correct system of physical culture 
that a cure of disease is possible. In spite of our con- 
stant transgressions of Nature's laws^ she is ever striv- 
ing to neutralize the effects of our errors^ and to make 
us wiser and more healthy. We have only to meet 
Nature half-way to become constant in progress toward 
physical, mental, and moral perfection. 

TIME AND SEASONS IN TRAINING. 

The time essential to the complete eradication of dis- 
ease varies, of course, w4th its nature, extent, the consti- 
tution of the patient, and many other influences. 

As proper exercise is as natural to man, and as essen- 
tial to his welfare, as pure air and healthful food, no one 
who has his highest interests at heart can afford for 
a long period of time to do without it. If it is valua- 
ble and important in curing acquired and hereditary 
diseases, how much more valuable is it in protecting 
the well person against the assaults of disease, and all 
the evils consequent thereupon ! 

But circumstances are often potent in preventing us 
from availing ourselves at all times of that which is 
for our highest good. Thus disease and weakness are 



€6 BtTTLEE'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

entailed upon us. To insure permanently beneficial 
eJBfects in the cure of disease, it is important to secure 
at least one year of thorough training. In the differ- 
ent seasons, different effects are produced upon the sys- 
tem by the exercise ; and a combination of all these 
results is necessary to a complete result. Fall and win- 
ter are favorable to the development of power, and to 
the production of a certain class of curative effects; 
spring, with its different liabilities to the development 
of disease, brings also different and equally valuable 
effects in the natural method of cure ; and summer, 
when tliQ pores of the skin are open, is particularly 
favorable to the elimination of disease by this method. 

It is probable that about seven years may be neces- 
sary to complete an entire organic revolution; but, 
with a correct system of culture, the processes of Na- 
ture will be aided, and the time may be shortened. 
Supposed physiological facts will be found to be errors 
when tested by a natural development. The beneficial 
effects of training are always more evident in the second 
year than in the first ; and the effect of early training 
is never seen in its completeness until years after. Yet 
an occasional fast in training, as in eating, does not 
result unfavorably, and for similar reasons. But, while 
this is true in regard to training, it is also true that 



THE LIFTING CUEE. 67 

favorable results are often produced by a very short 
period of training. A single exercise is frequently felt 
in its results for a long period of time ; and a course of 
from one to three months may be sufficient to arrest 
disease, and produce tendencies to healthy action, which 
becomes permanently established in consequence. 

Occasionally a crisis is induced in the early stages of 
training ; and, if the exercise is continued only a short 
time, the acute action may apparently make the patient 
feel worse during the whole course : but when the object 
of Nature is accomplished so far as the present degree of 
power will allow, though the training has been discon- 
tinued for weeks and months, the patient will be im- 
proved in health as a natural result of the action thus 
produced. The result of obedience to natural law, 
though for a very short time, can but produce favorable 
results; but he who desires the best results will be 
constant in his obedience. In the attainment and pres- 
ervation of health, we reap as we sow. 

POWER ESSENTIAL TO SAFETY IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF 

DISEASE. 

The seeds of disease being in the system, they are 
liable to become developed sooner or later. This may 
be done either through training, while there is yet 



68 BUTLER'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

strength to expel the morbid matters without endan- 
gering life, or it must come after the system becomes so 
weak that there may not be sufficient vitality to over- 
come the disease and rally again. By this system of 
training, we develop and expel the enemy while the 
strength is sufficient to prevent prostration and death. 
In this way, a large proportion of premature deaths 
might be prevented. But if, for fear of the incon- 
venience of crises, training is delayed, the system, 
through organic weakness, may be unable to resist 
the assaults of disease. The question is, simply. Shall 
we expel the elements of disease by training while the 
life-force is sufficient to do it safely and easily, or wait 
until disease is master of the situation, and means death 
in its development ? 

DISEASE; ITS NATURE AND CURE. 

The origin and pririiary meaning of the word " dis- 
ease " is in itself a history of one Of the great errors of 
the medical profession and popular belief Dis-ease, the 
opposite of ease, refers simply to the external and acute 
symptoms, which affect the feelings and sensations, 
and not to the underlying and vital cause. Upon this 
basis, physicians and the people generally have too often 
mistaken the effect for the cause ; and the whole system 



THE LIFTING CUEE. 69 

of drug medication is little else than a superficial appli- 
cation of remedies to the symptoms, rather than to the 
cause, of disease. Hence it has been considered most 
important to relieve pain, and stop the acute action 
which is only the curative effort of Nature to expel for- 
eign and morbid matters, and equalize and purify the 
system. Pain, and acute manifestions in general, are 
only indications of a curative action ; and, instead of 
attempting wholly to prevent them, we should strive to 
regulate and assist this action, while we seek to ascertain 
its cause, and apply the proper method of cure. Those 
diseases which are painless are most dangerous and 
fatal; and, whenever disease is finally triumphant over 
the vital energies, pain ceases. In cases where powerful 
medicines are given in order wholly to relieve pain, we 
have no doubt that death often results. Nature has 
provided for re-action and relief in fainting and various 
other processes. We regard it very dangerous to give 
powerful medicines for the purpose of killing pain. 

In this treatise, to adapt it to the popular understand- 
ing, we have used the word " disease," meaning the mor- 
bid and foreign matters contained in the system, or other 
organic cause of acute manifestations. It is the cause, 
not the symptoms, that we propose to treat and cure. 

Hereditary disease, germinal and dormant, may- re- 



70 BUTLER'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

main a long time in the system without manifesting 
acute symptoms ; but it endangers life none the less, and 
is ever» ready to be developed when the system becomes 
sufficiently weak. If, as our experience demonstrates, 
by an increase of organic power we succeed in curing 
disease when the best medical practice has failed, how 
much more potent must be this natural agent in pre- 
venting the development of disease ! 

In all person:^, two general tendencies exist, — two 
forces, each striving for the mastery ; viz., all those 
conditions which have for their object the preservation 
and increase of the life-power on the one hand, and all 
which tend to reduce and destroy it on the other. By 
proper training, we obtain that perfect action which 
secures equalization, invigoration, and organic recon- 
struction, expels disease, and determines the balance in 
favor of health and long life. 

PRACTICAL RESULTS IN APPLICATION: 

However perfect our theory of disease, of its nature 
and cure, may be, we are aware that its success depends 
upon its practical results in application. In a large 
number of cases, including patients of all ages and both 
sexes, we have treated many diseases, both chronic and 
acute, with uniform success. The treatment has been 



THE LIFTING CURE. 71 

particularly effective in cases of chronic dyspepsia, 
catarrh both chronic and acute, and diseases of the 
liver and kidneys. We have treated many cases of 
this kind, and have never failed to relieve or cure. 

Cases of neuralgia of ten or twelve years' standing, 
which the most skilful physicians of Europe and Amer- 
ica have failed to relieve, have yielded to this natural 
remedy, which secures equalization and organic power. 
All kinds of nervous diseases and weaknesses caused by 
an excess of nervous or brain action are radically cured 
by this method. 

We have been very successful in treating many cases 
of rupture and hemorrhage, when one not comprehend- 
ing the philosophy and method of application would" 
suppose that the treatment would increase instead of 
lessening the difficulty. We have had several cases 
of hernia; and, by increasing the strength of the 
abdominal muscles and adjacent parts, the tendency 
has always been to relieve the patient. 

In cases of incurable consumption, accompanied by 
hemorrhage of the lungs, our treatment has operated 
very favorably in lessening or stopping the hemorrhage, 
in equalizing the vital forces, and, as we believe, in pro- 
longing life. 

Contrary to what may be commonly supposed, we 



72 BUTLER'S PHYSICAL TEAINING. 

have been unusually successful in treating female dis- 
eases and weaknesses, owing, probably, to the fact 
that women and girls are unaccustomed to the use of 
nearly or quite all their power, and to ordinary, heavy 
manual labor long continued, which injures the tones 
of the organs, and renders them less responsive to cura- 
tive agencies. The temperament of females also ren- 
ders them more sensitive, and more easily invigorated 
by proper training. The diseases and weaknesses to 
which females are peculiarly liable, are, moreover, 
chiefly of a nature resulting from want of equal and 
sufficient action; while those affecting men and boys 
more generally result from excessive action. Falling of 
the womb, and female weaknesses in general, accom- 
panied by the worst forms of uterine hemorrhage, we 
have, in many instances, relieved and cured. 

Hemorrhage can rarely occur unless it is preceded 
by congestion and weakness of the affected part, and 
want of equalization and functional vigor. Training 
equalizes the circulation, removes the congestion, gives 
power and regulated action to the organs, and prevents 
hemorrhage by removing its cause. 

Incipient consumption may be prevented from fur- 
ther development by this treatment; and scrofula and 
all forms of unhealthy humors are removed, the morbid 



THE LIFTING CURE. 73 

matters being expelled through the skin and natural 
channels of evacuation. We have no doubt that can- 
cers and tumors may thus be prevented, or, in their 
early stages, arrested in their development -, thus, in 
such cases, avoiding the necessity of surgical operations. 
We question whether, in the advanced stages of many 
diseases, as, for instance, cancer and gravel, this increase 
of organic power may not produce sufficient action to 
arrest the formation of and disintegrate the morbid accu- 
mulations, and expel them from the system. While we 
have little or no faith in any direct chemical effect or 
partial and local action of the organs in the cure of dis- 
ease, we have unbounded faith in the inherent power of 
strong and regulated action of all the organs. Man's 
chemistry kills : God's chemistry cures. 

Constipation, indigestion, and irregular circulation, — 
the causes of piles, — are surely prevented by proper 
training; and thus they may be readily relieved and 
cured. Fevers, in their early stages, may be prevented 
from becoming seated. We have thiis treated typhoid 
and lung fevers, frequently relieving the patient by a 
single exercise. Pleurisy, and acute pains in general, 
including headache, toothache, and rheumatic pains, 
are frequently cured by a single exercise. 

Mineral and vegetable poisons long contained in the 

10 



74 BUTLER'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

system have been developed with all the symptoms 
of recent introduction, and expelled by training. All 
kinds of bruises and injuries to the person heal more 
rapidly, and with less pain, with training, than they 
could without, owing to the more powerful and equal 
circulation and vital force. 

Thus it is evident that an increase of general organic 
power and equal action, with obedience to all hygienic 
laws, is the best and most efficient method of cure. 
This power can be developed only by a correct system 
of physical training. 

THE TWOFOLD CULTURE OF THE BRAIN. 

The brain is, first, a physical organ, — a part of the 
physical body, — and subject to all the laws of physical 
culture and growth. 

It is, secondly, the organ of the mind, — a combina- 
tion of numerous mental faculties, depending upon 
their special action for special mental culture. 

A true philosophy of physical culture includes also 
a true philosophy of mental culture. Hence our sys- 
tem of physical training develops brain-power both 
directly and indirectly, — indirectly through the in- 
creased power and vigor of the body in general, and 
directly by the especial and vigorous action of certain 
mental faculties. 



THE LIFTING CUEE. 75 

The faculties of self-reliance, firmness, concentrative- 
ness, hope, couragej faith, and many others, are directly 
called into powerful action ; and, in accordance with the 
laws of all organic growth, they mnst and do increase 
in power. 

While these faculties are called into direct action 
during training, the brain as a whole, and every part 
of it, partakes of the general equalizing and invigo- 
rating influences affecting the whole body. The brain, 
as a whole and in its several parts, being the organ of 
the mind, the physical agent through which the several 
faculties are manifested, and subject to all the special 
laws of culture and growth recognized by phrenolo- 
gists, is none the less a part of the physical body, de- 
pending equally upon its general laws of development, 
growth, and culture. Hence whatever will develop the 
body as a whole harmoniously, restraining abnormal 
development where it has become excessive, and en- 
larging the organs where there is a deficiency of size 
or power, will exercise the same equalizing influences 
upon the brain. In this manner, we secure a constant 
and powerful tendency to develop deficient intellectual 
and moral conditions, as exhibited in partial or com- 
plete idiocy ; and to remove, by equalization, that exces- 
sive and abnormal action of the brain, or of its several 
organs, which results in monomania or in insanity. 



76 BUTLEK'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

Insanity is unhealthiness, whether pertaining to the 
muscles, the vital organs, or the brain. Hence, if, physi- 
ologically, the brain is made healthy, the mental mani- 
festations are no longer warped and distorted by the 
imperfections of their physical medium ; and those 
faculties and passions, which, in a weak and debilitated 
condition of the general system, act abnormally, making 
man the slave of appetite and indulgence, while none 
the less powerful, become, as a result of proper physical 
training, natural and healthful in their manifestations. 
Violence and crime could never occur in a properly 
balanced condition of brain and body ; and a healthful 
bodily condition is essential to healthy and normal men- 
tal manifestations. Crime, which always results from an 
unbalanced, and consequently unhealthy, mental condi- 
tion, is really a condition of insanity. Hence murder 
cannot be prevented by hanging the murderer. The 
judicial act is really a greater crime than the act of 
the judicial victim. Punishment should never be given 
in vengeance, but simply as a protection to society and 
individual rights; and should be as lenient as possible. 
The proper school for idiots, the insane, criminals, and 
all who manifest unhealthy and abnormal mental action, 
is a school of physical training. This is pre-eminently 
true of children, who tend to abnormal mental mani- 



THE LIFTING CUEE. 77 

festations. Nothing can be more cruel or unjust than 
the application of corporal punishment to children in 
schools or at home. It is only by a proper method of 
physical culture that these diseased conditions can be 
removed, equal action established, and a permanent cure 
effected. The application of force as punishment can 
only result either in breaking the spirit and dwarfing 
the manhood and womanhood by weakening the power, 
or in increasing the desire to do evil, the appetite for 
crime. In this way, criminals are made. But, however 
defective or unbalanced the mental condition may be, 
the tendency of a true physical culture must be toward 
a healthy and normal development, — a symmetry of the 
mind as well as of the body. Hence the fundamental 
thing to be done is to obtain a perfect physical develop- 
ment and culture. 

The chief difficulty in delineating character phreno- 
logically has arisen from the fact that the natural mental 
manifestations were always modified by the influence 
of a weak or diseased body. Hence the phrenologist 
was compelled to delineate character pathologically; and 
a very nice discrimination was required. Thus a proper 
system of physical training, whereby the body, and the 
brain as a physical organ, may be naturally and harmo- 
niously developed, lies at the basis of a true system of 
phrenology. 



78 BUTLER'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

EDUCATION AS AFFECTED BY PROPER TRAINING. 

In addition to this general culture of the brain, we 
must also recognize the influence of the special action 
of the individual faculties. We have said that certain 
faculties are directly exercised in the process of training. 
It is also true that all the faculties, as a result of equal- 
ization and invigoration, are more distinct and vigorous 
in their individual action. Our systems of education 
should be adapted to the natural order of human devel- 
opment; but, while infancy and youth are the periods of 
vital development and physical growth, our common- 
school system wholly or largely ignores physical culture, 
and stimulates the brain to a forced and unnatural devel- 
opment. In thus violating natural law, it weakens the 
vitality and life-power in general ; and, by first maturing 
by unnatural Stimulation that part which is matured 
last in the order of Nature, it becomes the direct and 
potent cause of consumption and nervous diseases 
among us. In New England, where this forced and 
unnatural system of culture is most complete, con- 
sumption and nervous diseases are largest upon the list 
of mortality. Is it the best medical science, and most 
enlightened educational system, of the last half of the 
nineteenth century, which would thus sow the seed of 



THE LIFTING CURE. 79 

lung and brain weakness and disease in the primary 
school, and treat the effects of its germination and 
development by sending the adults to Europe or the 
South, or dosing them with vile compounds of cod-liver 
oil and whiskey ? A radical change is needed in our 
system of education, whereby physical culture shall be 
essentially the great object of primary-school education. 

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION. 

We thus see that a proper system of physical train- 
ing, tending to harmonious development of body and 
mind, will not only revolutionize our systems of cure, 
but will radically affect methods of education, legisla- 
tion, and even theology itself; for, in health and 
strength, old prejudices and opinions resulting from 
diseased bodily and mental conditions will be swept 
away, and all things will be made new. Truth can- 
not be clearly comprehended by a weak and disor- 
dered brain. Hence the absolute necessity of regen- 
eration, radical, thorough, and complete : man must 
indeed be " born again." False systems of religion, 
originating in and founded on a diseased and unde- 
veloped body and disordered mind, must pass away ; 
and a regenerated, developed, and purified body and 
mind will be fitted to receive the clear light of truth. 



80 BUTLER'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. ■ 

Moral and social reforms, intellectual growth, religious 
progress, which shall be eJBfective, and prove permanent, 
must be based upon physical culture. 

Much can be done in a single generation, though that 
may not be sufficient to effect the complete result. 
Prevention of physical and mental disease is more 
potent than cure. Hence we must begin at the founda- 
tion. A true system of bodily culture is, in its applica- 
tion, the best possible preparation for those who would 
become parents. Neither man nor woman should enter 
into this holy relation without the most perfect prepa- 
ration, — a pure and noble mind in a purified, strong, 
and healthy body. A proper diet, and a correct system 
of physical culture, is -thus the most important element 
in its relations upon both parent and child. We have 
had in our practice a number of women, who, previous 
to training, had been weak, sickly, in some instances 
unable to perform the maternal function, and who had 
never borne a healthy child ; yet after a few months of 
this preparation, continued during the period of preg- 
nancy, labor has, in all cases, been comparatively easy 
and of short duration, and the children have, in every 
instance, been healthy and strong. In philosophy, it is 
evident that the equalizing and invigorating effects of 
this exercise must produce these most desirable results. 



THE LIFTING CURE. 81 

In practical application, the effect has been uniformly 
of this nature. How important is this culture to every 
prospective mother in America ! How potent must be 
its influence upon coming generations ! 

Myself an invalid when I commenced the demonstra- 
tion of this new theory of cure, broken down in health, 
and given up by physicians to die, T was yet prepared, 
by many years of study in phrenology and physiology, 
to look for cure to the simple application of natural law. 
I may perhaps be pardoned for saying that the result, 
in my own person, has been all that I claim in its appli- 
cation to others. Whereas I was weak, I am now strong ; 
being then sick, I am now well. These general results 
are uniform in our practice. Therefore we feel justified 
in presenting to the public these views, the result of 
twenty years of study and ten years of the most thor- 
ough demonstration, comprising, in brief, our idea of a 
science of physical culture ; comprehensive and revolu- 
tionary in its claims, it is true, but we believe them 
to be justified by its practical results. 

EXPLANATION. 

This system of exercise and cure contains essentially 

three elements, under which are comprehended other 

minor peculiarities : — 
11 



82 BUTLER'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

1st, It is a true exercise. 

2d, It is a true developing agency. 

3d, It is a true method of cure. 

Being a true exercise, it is necessarily a true develop- 
ing agency ; being a true exercise and a true develop- 
ing agency, it is necessarily a true method of cure; 
and a true exercise, a true developing agency, and a 
true method of cure, necessarily involve the utmost of 
strength and health. 

The object of the system is, primarily, to secure 
strength at the vital centres ; to develop power in the 
vital organs, the spine and brain ; and, subordinately, to 
secure an harmonious and symmetrical development of 
the muscular system. Other methods, on the contrary, 
tend chiefly to muscular development, and do not espe- 
cially add to the vital power. If the muscular system 
is developed to an excessive degree, it robs the vital 
and nervous systems of their force, and prepares the 
way for disease. 

We secure this uniform development of power and 
health by the scientific application of the law of me- 
chanical action, through the use of machinery adapted 
to that purpose. Why should not machinery be adapt- 
ed to this high purpose ? This is pre-eminently the age 
of invention and discovery. Intelligent labor was never 



THE LIFTING CURE. 



before so honorable. Brain labor is fast superseding phys- 
ical drudgery. By the invention and use of machine- 
ry, the civilized world is fast being revolutionized and 
reconstructed. Every thing is being done better and 
more profitably by machinery than ever before. Produc- 
tive energy is increasing with the speed and capacity 
of mechanical action. But commerce, agriculture, and 
manufackires must not monopolize the use of machine- 
ry : we propose to apply it directly to the culture of 
man, physically 'and mentally. The physician and 
teacher, not less than the mechanic and farmer, must 
call machinery to their aid. With all this increase of 
capacity for labor, time becomes much more valuable. 
Men cannot afford to occupy hours in securing exercise 
through the usual forms of manual labor or the old sys- 
tems of gymnastics, when better exercise can be ob- 
tained in ten or fifteen minutes, two or three times a 
week, by the use of machinery. 

In application, the order of development of strength 
and health by this agency may be stated thus : — 

First, It is an equalizer. 

Secondly, It is an invigorator. 

Thirdly, It is a reconstructor of the tissues of the 
body and the brain. 

That it accomplishes what we claim for it is attested 



84 BITTLEE'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

by the practical results of its application. It is particu- 
larly commended to the attention of the public, — 

1st, Because it is radically different in philosophy, 
machinery, and application, from any thing heretofore 
known in gymnastics or other modes of exercise and 
cure. 

2d, It is an original, scientific system of mechanical 
action, or motion, adapted to the growth and- develop- 
ment of man in his normal condition, and as the cura- 
tive agency of his abnormal condition*, — equally appli- 
cable to men, women, and children ; making the weak 
strong, and permanently curing disease and deformity. 

3d, The system, in its practical application, is com- 
plete ; reaching ever}^ organ and fibre from -iiead to 
foot ; arousing all those parts which are weak or dis- 
eased; strengthening and preventing disease in the 
former, and expelling it from the latter ; thus securing 
strength, health, and symmetry by the same process. 

4th, It is exact No known mechanical law is vio- 
lated, and all are obeyed ; making the best possible use 
of all existing power as an invigorating, reproducing 
health and strength agency ; surely guarding against 
the liabilities to strain and exhaustion peculiar to those 
systems of exercise which violate mechanical laws. 

5th, It is co-operative ; in each exercise calling into 



THE LIFTIITG CUllE. . 85 

regular, harmonious action as many parts as possible; 
the strong supporting the weak, and all together put- 
ting forth their power, proportionately distributed, but 
combining in one co-operative eifort. This is the best 
and only safe manner of exercise for all classes, weak 
or strong, sick or well, old or young. 

6th, It is graduated ; in all the exercises, carefully 
adapting the weights ajid the duration of the exercise 
to individual needs, rendering it perfectly safe and 
agreeable even in the most delicate cases. None are 
permitted to attempt the use of weights beyond their 
power of thorough mastery, nor for a longer time than 
is necessary fully to call forth their latent power ; thus 
preventing exhaustion, and uniformly invigorating. 

7th, It is iwo'perly applied. Each patient is person- 
ally superintended by a competent instructor specially 
educated and experienced ; while the apparatus, in de- 
sign and construction, combines simplicity and com- 
pleteness in the highest degree, thus insuring safe and 
efficient treatment. 

8th, It invokes all hygienic agencies, especially pure 
air, pure water, healthful food, sun, air, and water-baths, 
abundant sleep, rest, and recreation. 

9th, It is successful in practice ; accomplishing re- 
sults in strengthening the weak, and permanently cur- 



86 BUTLER'S PHYSICAL TRAIl!^INa. 

ing disease, heretofore unknown either in physical 
culture or medicine. 

The first effect of these exercises is to bring the indi- 
vidual into proper form and shape, so that there shall 
be no unnatural mechanical obstructions to the free 
and normal exercise of his organs. 

The second is to create functional vigor, and thus to 
expel disease, and prepare for development. 

The third is to reconstruct and build up the tissues 
of the organs, and cause an absolute organic growth. 

The fourth is to increase the healthy action and 
power of the brain and mind -correspondingly with 
that of the body. Consequently, all the elements of 
a perfect manhood are increased, including not only 
intellectual vigor, but moral power and social purity. 
For, as certainly as disease favors an abnormal condi- 
tion of the mind as well as the body, so surely does an 
increase of health and strength become a promoter of 
virtue. 



THE LIFTING CURE. 87 



MANUAL OF EXERCISES. 

GENERAL REMARKS. 

In the training of an individual, or the treatment of 
a patient, we are particularly desirous of explaining the 
philosophy and practical application of our system. We 
consider an intelligent co-operation of the patient indis- 
pensable to secure the best results in each case. We 
also desire to educate the person, so that he may be 
independent of our personal attention after health is 
once established, and able to train himself, preserve 
what power he has gained, and make still further prog- 
ress. He is also thus enabled to apply the exercise to 
family and friends when circumstances render it diffi- 
cult or impossible to secure the services of an experi- 
enced instructor and physician. Thus our mode of 
practice is comprehensive and liberal, aiming to secure 
permanent strength and health on the basis of the 
patient's individual action and independence ; believing 
fully that what is best for the patient is best for the 
physician. We have therefore deemed it well to ap- 
pend to this treatise a Manual of Exercises, giving gen- 
eral directions for the use of the apparatus in training. 
Of course, these directions can only be general in their 



88 BUTLEE'S PHYSICAL TEAINING. 

character, as the application must be as various as the 
conditions of the patients. 

The complete system, in application, comprises four 
forms of exercise, — the pulleys, lifting, the heavy 
dumb-bell, and the light dumb-bells. Our experience 
proves that the lifting is of the chief importance : it is 
the vertebra of the system. The other exercises are 
comparatively unimportant, though valuable, in some 
cases, in connection with the lifting ; but in all cases 
of severe invalidism, where the patient is weak or 
nervous, and in the training of women and children, 
lifting should be, usually, the only form of exercise. It 
is the one which alone obeys fully the law of co-opera- 
tive action. As a rule, perfect lifting is perfect exer- 
cise. 

In the average number of cases, an exercise three 
times a week is preferable : in some instances, a daily 
exercise, while the pupil is on light weights, is allowa- 
ble. In using heavy weights, a daily exercise would be 
too frequent. In many instances, particularly in the 
training of women, an exercise twice a week secures 
the best results. In all cases where the instructor is in 
doubt about a greater or less amount of exercise, let 
him choose the less. 

In the minor exercises, care should be taken to ren- 



THE LIFTING CURE. 89 

der the action as general and co-operative as possible. 
The whole body should be brought into action ; not 
simply the limbs or a portion of the body. The in- 
structor should remember that people differ in their 
degree of hopefulness, courage, and pertinacity. Hence 
some require to be urged forward beyond their inclina- 
tion ; while the majority require restraint rather than 
urging. In the regular order of a complete exercise, we 
commence with 

THE PULLEYS. 

This apparatus camprises a small platform, resting on 
the floor, on which the patient stands ; which is varied 
in height, according to the height of the person, by 
means of adjustable blocks; thus adapting it to men, 
women, and children of all sizes. At the back of the 
platform are inserted upright posts, to which are at- 
tached a series of wheels, varying for different widths of 
shoulders. The weights, varying to the half-pound, are 
attached, by means of straps passing over the pulleys, 
opposite the shoulders. The straps are varied in length, 
by means of adjusting buckles, for different lengths of 
arms. An upright board rises in the centre, a little 
forward of the pulley-posts. 

The patient stands upright upon the machine, exactly 

12 



90 BUTLER'S PHYSICAL TBAINING. 

in the centre between the pulley-straps, with his back, 
shoulders, hips, and heels against the upright board, 
slightly inclined forward from the perpendicular. His 
shoulders should be of equal height with the straps 
which pass over the pulleys. He takes in each hand 
the wooden handle attached to the straps best suited to 
his width between the shoulders, places his back firmly 
against the board, bends slightly with the knees to 
secure a co-operative action of the whole body, his 
straps being long enough to allow his elbows to rest 
just forward of his hips. He then pushes out the 
weights, which, in the first effort, are very light, bring- 
ing his arms to a horizontal position, straightening his 
elbows and wrists fully, and, at the same time, straight- 
ening the knee. 

Commencing with a weight on each side not more 
than half or two-thirds as heavy as he can raise thor- 
oughly, he lifts in this manner four times • at each suc- 
ceeding effort making an addition to the weight lifted. 
In every case, the weights should be equal on both 
sides ; and in no case should the same weights be re- 
peated during the same exercise. In grading from the 
lowest to the highest weight, the first addition should 
be the largest, and the last the smallest, in all cases. 
The action should be slow, gradual, and thorough. The 



THE LIFTING CUEE. , 91 

pupil should never attempt weights beyond his power 
of thorough mastery. Commencing fully within his 
power, in each succeeding day on which he exercises 
his highest weight should be slightly increased, seldom 
by more than two pounds, usually by a single pound or 
half-pound. This should be continued until the attend- 
ant instructor perceives, by his manner of pushing, 
that he has approached his present maximum degree 
of power; when he should fall back ten pounds or more, 
and, on succeeding days, review the weights in the same 
manner. In this and every succeeding review, he will 
probably surpass considerably his highest weights upon 
the preceding grade. In this manner the process should 
continue. The pulleys are simply a preparatory exer- 
cise, and should never be used to the point of exhaus- 
tion. A short rest should be taken between the succes- 
sive efforts, and between this exercise and 

LIFTING. 

The lifting apparatus comprises a substantial table, 
through the centre of which passes an upright rod, 
upon which the weights rest. This rod is raised or 
lowered by means of a screw, to obtain the exact . 
height for the most perfect leverage for each individual. 
The screw passes through a nut resting upon a rubber 



92 BUTLER'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

ring, which is attached to a spring resting upon the 
table. Between all the joints of the. machine is inserted 
an artificial cartilage of rubber, which, with the spring, 
prevents sudden and abrupt action or strain, and brings 
the apparatus in harmony with the individual. The 
lifting-bar, which, with all the apparatus, is patented, is 
so adjusted, that the hands, acting in opposite directions, 
receive the weight upon a mathematical line passing 
through the centre of its bearing ; thus securing perfect 
adjustment. 

In lifting, the patient stands upon rubber plates 
attached to the platform of the table, directly over the 
upright rod, which is surmounted by an eye, or socket, 
containing a pivot directly over the centre of the 
weight. Through this socket passes the lifting-bar,-; — 
a wooden cross-piece padded with buckskin, adapted to 
the form of the hand, and so adjusted, that the pupil, 
grasping the handles as he stands astride the bar, with 
his spine directly over the rod, his shoulders in a per- 
pendicular line with the hips and feet, and his head 
thrown back, takes the weight upon a straight line 
passing along the handle, and through the centre of 
the pivot on which the handle is pressed. Thus the 
mechanical law relating to the adjustment of the 
weight to the body by means of the cross-piece is ful- 



THE LIFTING CUEE. 98 

filledj and the weight bears equally on every part of 
the body. It is important for all these conditions to 
be fulfilled, that the effect upon the body may be 
perfect and complete. Our experience has demon- 
strated that the relative positions of the handle, pivot, 
socket, and rod, with the body, cannot be in any way 
changed with equally beneficial curative results. 

The proper height of the rod, being ascertained upon 
the first exercise, should be secured at each succeeding 
exercise by exact measurement. The weight, resting 
by means of the iron nut upon the spring in the centre 
of the table, should be raised two or three inches clear 
of the spring when the body is erect, and the knees 
fully straightened. The greatest care should be ob- 
served in obtaining the correct position and adjustment 
of the body, no less in lifting the lighter than the 
heavier weights. The ankles should be about opposite 
the rod, the foot supporting the forward hand slightly 
in advance of the other. The spine should be erect; 
the top of the shoulders well set back ; the centre of the 
chest fully rounded out ; the feet, hips, and shoulders in 
a perpendicular line : and the weight should be raised 
very slowly, followed by the spring, until a complete 
co-operation of all parts *of the body has been attained ; 
when the weight is raised free from the spring, and 



94 BUTLER'S PHYSICAL TEAINING. 

becomes a perfect dead-weight. Thus we secure all the 
advantages, and none of the disadvantages, of perfect 
spring and dead-weight lifting. There is complete ad- 
justment, thorough co-operation. 

The position brings the body as nearly as possible 
into perfect shape ; the manner of lifting distributes 
the weight co-operatively over the whole body, giving 
each organ and muscle its proper action, and develop- 
ing the whole, harmoniously. Commencing, as in the 
pulleys, with a weight not more than half as large as 
the pupil is to raise at last, he should lift, usually, four 
times. The first addition should be one-half the total 
amount to be added ; the second, about two-thirds of 
the remainder ; the third and last, always the least. 
Between the successive efforts of lifting, as in the pul- 
ley-exercise, the patient should take sufficient time to 
rest, varying from one to five minutes or more, accord- 
ing to the weight lifted ; for invigoration follows from 
successive periods of action and re-action, not from 
actions following each other in quick succession. This 
would tend rather to exhaust; but the exercise, as a 
whole, should, in every instance, leave the pupil invigo- 
rated, not exhausted. 

Commencing, in the first exercise, with a weight fully 
within the control of the patient, an addition of from 



THE LIFTING CURE. 95 

five to ten pounds may be made on each succeeding 
exercise-dajj until the maximum weight is considerably 
increased, and the attendant instructor perceives, from 
the manner of lifting and symptoms of the patient, that 
he should proceed no farther at present ; then, on the 
succeeding exercise, his highest weight should be re- 
duced about one hundred pounds in most cases, and he 
should again grade up as before. In some instances, it 
may be well to grade downward five or ten pounds 
each day, reversing the process of the ascending grade 
to the extent of fifty or one hundred pounds. When a 
crisis is developed, the weights should be varied accord- 
ing to the symptoms and condition of the patient. No 
invariable rule can be given to apply in every case. 
The treatment must be as varied as the cases treated. 
To produce more decided action, the pupil should lift 
rather quicker, and with shorter rod. The amount of 
action is determined by the weight lifted ; but the man- 
ner of lifting determines the kind of effect. 

Heavy weights should not be lifted too often. On 
weights which tax the pupil's powder severely, the 
system of gradation should be varied, so that light 
weights should alternate with heavy from day to day ; 
and absolute gains should not be made oftener than 
once in two or three weeks. Very heavy weights 



96 BUTLER'S PHYSICAL TEAHSTING. 

should not be attempted as often as this. In train- 
ing, one cannot be too careful in the adjustment of the 
apparatus and the manner of exercising. 

THE HEAVY DUMB-BELL. 

At the completion of the lifting exercise, the pupil 
should rest a short time ; after which, if a person of 
good vitality and sufficient power, he may be intro- 
duced to the heavy dumb-bell exercise. G-reater danger 
arises from the improper use of dumb-bells than from any 
other part of our apparatus. We object wholly to the 
manner in which they are used in the ordinary gymna- 
siums. The dumb-bell patented and in use by us is a 
graduating bell, from which any weight may be obtained, 
by half-pound grades, from six pounds to a hundred 
and seventeen. Each dumb-bell is accompanied by a 
duplicate handle and three sets of screws, so that two 
dumb-bells may be made at the same time, of equal or 
varying weights. In the use of the dumb-bell, the move- 
ments should be slow and steady, and the action should 
perfectly fulfil the mechanical law of the exercise. 

The dumb-bell is placed on the floor by the side of 
the pupil, parallel with the direction of his feet. The 
foot nearest the bell should be advanced a short dis- 
tance, the other remaining o|)posite the bell. The pupil 



THE LIFTING CURE. 97 

then stoops to raise it, without bending the spine, by 
means of the leverage of the lower limbs. He raises 
the bell in one hand, allowing it to extend downward 
by the side. This is the first motion. The second is to 
raise the bell slowly to the shoulder, keeping it in a 
horizontal position near the body, and allowing the 
elbow to slide back by the side. Then, by a thorough 
motion of the whole body, moving upon the hips and 
ankles, the bell is steadily raised to the full perpendicu- 
lar extent of the arm. During the exercise, the eyes 
of the pupil should be fixed upon the bell, that he may 
preserve a proper balance between it and his body. 
These motions are now reversed. The bell is slowly 
lowered, first to the shoulder, then to the side, the arm 
extended downward, and the spine erect ; then, with- 
out bending the spine, by the action of the hips, knees, 
and ankles, it is placed upon the floor. 

Commencing with a weight fully within the pupil's 
power, lifting the dumb-bell only once with each hand 
at each exercise, commencing always with the weaker 
hand, that it may lift as heavy weights as the stronger, 
a regular gradation should be followed, of one pound or a 
half-pound each day ; going back and reviewing when a 
good degree of power is attained. In some cases it may 
be well to repeat this exercise, as in the pulleys and lift- 

13 



98 BTJTLEE'S PHYSICAL TEAIKENa. 

ing; grading each day in the same manner. No one 
should ever use a dumb-bell which he cannot fully 
control. 

THE LIGHT DUMB-BELLS. 

A series of exercises with light dumb-bells, weighing 
from two to six pounds for women and children, and 
from six to fourteen pounds for men, completes the 
course for each day. 

1st, The pupil stands erect, the feet on a line directly 
beneath the shoulders, the toes turned out, and takes a 
dumb-bell in each hand, extending them downward by 
the side. He then raises them simultaneously, and 
without sudden or violent motions, to the perpendicu- 
lar position above his head ; the arms being parallel. 
Then, keeping the spine erect, he bends with his hips 
and knees, bringing the lower. part of the body nearly 
to the floor, and at the same time bending the elbows, 
and bringing the dumb-bells to his shoulders. This ac- 
tion is then reversed ; the pupil rising, and raising the 
bells simultaneously above his head. These motions 
are repeated three times, and the dumb-bells are then 
lowered to the sides. 

2d, The pupil stands in an erect position, and advances 
one foot in front of the body, with dumb-bells in his 



THE LIFTING CUBE. 99 

hands extended by his side. He then raises them to 
his shoulders, carrying the body back with a motion of 
the hips and knees. The arms are then advanced hori- 
zontally before, to their full extent, the body swaying 
forward with a free motion of the hips, knees, and 
ankles. This motion is then reversed, and the whole 
is repeated three times. 

3d, The pupil stands erect, feet on a line beneath the 
shoulders, toes turned out, dumb-bells in the hands 
extended downward by the sides. The hands are then 
carried forward and upward, and over the shoulders, the 
body bending backward. They are then carried in a 
parallel, circular sweep, with a forward bend of the body, 
down in front and back by the side to the full extent 
of the arms. This motion is then reversed, and the 
whole repeated three times. 

4th, The pupil takes position as before. The arms, 
fully extended, pass outward from the sides in opposite 
directions, with the body erect, in a circular sweep, until 
they converge, and the ends of the dumb-bells meet 
above the head. This action is reversed until the oppo- 
site ends of the dumb-bells meet behind the back. The 
whole movement is thrice repeated. 

5th, The pupil takes position as before. The dumb- 
bells are held, one in each hand ; the arms extended 



100 BUTLEE'S PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

downward, with the bells horizontal and parallel in 
front of the body. Then, bj a motion of the body, 
first downward and forward to one side, then upward 
to the other side, the bells are carried, the one to the 
full perpendicular extent of the arm above the head, 
and the other to the shoulder on the same side of the 
body. This motion is reversed, and the whole repeated 
three times. In all these exercises, the action should be 
moderate, exact, with free motions of all the joints and 
levers of the body j and should never be carried to the 
point of exhaustion. 

The light dumb-bell exercise is of the least impor- 
tance, and, in many cases, would be injurious instead of 
beneficial. As in all the exercises, the experience of the 
instructor will enable him to determine whether or not 
they should be used. Their use is not so often indi- 
cated in the case of persons who are of active tempera- 
ment, tall and slender, as in those who are phlegmatic, 
robust, and stout. Invalids and women and children 
should rarely or never use them. 



INDEX. 



A, 

PAGE. 

A Correct Diet 58 

An unerring Diagnosis of Disease 44 

Authorities 6 

B. 

Base-ball, Boating, and Horseback-riding 32 

Beauty and Energy result from Proper Training 43 

Broken Bones, Wounds and Injuries . 50 

Brain, the Twofold Culture of. ......... 74 

C. 

Careful Training, Necessity of 45 

Complete Development impossible without Training 28 

Cultivating Endurance at the Expense of Power 19 

Chronic Diseases, the Treatment of . 46 

Crises, the Ecpetition of . . 47 

Cure of Organic Diseases 49 

D. 

Dangers of Light Gymnastics, other 21 

Danger of using Heavy Weights improperly 24 

Dangers and Faults of Shoulder-lifting 25 

Dangers of excessive Muscular Development 30 

Dangers of over-training by all Systems 35 

Dangers of artificial Stimulation 57 

Defining our Position 5 

gnosis of Disease, an unerring 44 

101 



102 INDEX. 

PAOE. 

Diseases incurable by other Methods may be cured by this . . . . 54 

Diet, a Correct . . . • 58 

Dietetic Experiments 61 

Disease ; its Nature and Cure .68 

Dumb-bell, the Heavy 96 

Dumb-bells, the Light 98 

E. 

Education as affected by Proper Training 78 

Endurance, cultirating, at the Expense of Power 19 

Energy and Beauty result from Proper Training 43 

Extreme Prostration and Debility, Treatment of Cases of . . . .52 

Explanation 81 

Exercises, Manual of 87 

F. 

False and True Methods of Physical Culture 14 

General Eemarks 87 

Gradual Development, Necessity of 37 

H. 

Health, not Eecreation, the Object of Physical Training . . . .23 
Hand-lifting, with Proper Apparatus, the only Correct Method . . .26 

Health, other Aids in securing 61 

Heavy Weights, the Proper Use of 1.5 

Heavy Gymnastics, Objections to, answered . ' 17 

Heavy Weights, the Danger of using improperly 24 

Hopeful Signs for the Future 6 

Horseback-riding, Base-ball, and Boating 32 

Heavy Dumb-bell, the 96 

Hygienic Suggestions . 55 

I. 

Introduction 5 

Incurable Cases, the Treatment of . 53 

Injuries, Broken Bones, and Wounds . . 50 



INDEX. . 103 

L. 

PAGE. 

Lifting Cuke, the 9 

Light Gymnastics unphilosophical 16 

Light Gymnastics, other Dangers of 21 

Lifting 91 

Light Dumb-bells, the 98 

M. 
Manual of Exercises . . . . , . . . . . .87 

Man a Machine . 10 

Mechanical Action superior to Medical Treatment 12 

Mind and Body in Culture, the Relations of 11 

Muscular Development, the Dangers of excessive 30 

N.. 

Necessity of Gradual Development ......... 37 

Necessity of Careful Training 45 

Necessity of the Proper Use of Power . . < 63 

O. 

Objections to Heavy Gymnastics answered 17 

Other Dangers of Light Gymnastics 21 

Order of Development and- Cure, the 43 

Organic Diseases, the Cure of 49 

Other Aids in securing Health 61 

Pedestrian Excursions 34 

Physiological Errors . 7 

Physical Culture, the True Basis of 9 

Physical Culture, True and False Methods of 14 

Power essential to Safety in the Development of Disease . . . .67 

Proper Use of Heavy Weights, the 15 

Proper Apparatus, Hand-lifting with, the only Correct Method . . .26 

Periodic Development of Man, training to recognize the 38 

Proper Training a Revolution 36 

Proper Use of Power, Necessity of the 63 

Pulleys, the 89 

Practical Results in Application .... 70 



104 INDEX. 

K. 

PAGE. 

Eelations of Mind and Body in Culture . . . . . . . .11 

Eecreation not the Object of Physical Training . . , . . .23 

s. 

Summary and Conclusion , . . . 79 

T. 

The True Basis of Physical Training 9 

The Eelations of Mind and Body in Culture 11 

The Proper Use of Heavy Weights 15 

The Order of Development and Cure 43 

The Treatment of Chronic Diseases 46 

The Eepetition of Crises 47 

The Cure of Organic Diseases 49 

The Treatment of Acute Diseases . . . .51 

The Treatment of Cases of Extreme Prostration and Debility . . .52 

The Treatment of Incurable Cases 53 

The Twofold Culture of the Brain 74 

The Pulleys 89 

The Heavy Dumb-bell 96 

The Light Dumb-bells 98 

Time and Seasons in Training .65 

To the Eeader 8 

True and False Methods of Physical Culture . . . ... .14 

Training to recognize the Periodic Development of Man 38 

W. 

Why other Systems have failed 13 



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